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TO 

AN OLD AND ESTEEMED AMERICAN FRIEND, 

G. W. TURNER, 

BY 
THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. 




DR3 caEE <J][y)CBniicici '^y[i^Ko 



THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY'S 

REVELATION 

OK HIQH LIKE 

WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

The Private Life of 

Emperors, Kings, Queens, Princes, and Princesses. 

Their Daily Habits, how they Woo and Wed, their Characteristics, Virtues 

and Vices. Their Pleasures in the use of Untold Wealth, Matchless 

Luxuries, Superb Equipages, Priceless Jewels, Closet 

Skeletons, Grand Balls, Banquets, Haunted 

Palaces, Royal Hunting Sports, Crazy 

Kings, Intrigues, Marital 

Relations, &c. 



Written from a personal knowledge of 

Scenes Behind the Thrones, 

> By the MARQUISE de FONTENOY, 

n 

A foreign lady of rank, lately from Europe, but for years intimately associated 
wiih the reigning families of the old world. 

With an Introduction by W. FLETCHER JOHNSON, Esq., 

The popular Author and Litterateur. 



HANDSOMELY ILLUSTRATED. 



EDGEWOOD PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



COPYRIGHTED 1892 

BY 

HUBBARD PUBLISHING COMPANV. 



Bequest 

Albert Adsit Olemonfl 

Aug. 24, 1938 

(Not available for exchange) 



^^ 



1 



INTRODUCTION. 



THIS is not a biography, but an introduction. It must be 
sufficient, therefore, to say that the Marquise de Fonte- 
noy is the daughter of an ancient and lordly house, and the 
bearer of a name that is everywhere in caste-charmed Europe 
an " Open, Sesame !" to the most aristocratic coterie and to 
the courts of royalty. She is, too, the wife of a man of worthy 
lineage and of social, literary, and diplomatic distinction ; so 
that both by inheritance and by alliance she possesses the full 
spirit of the brilliant regime of which she writes. Her social 
and official career, moreover, has been such as to bring her 
into and make her a part of the court life of many European 
capitals, both in its brilliant public manifestations and in its 
less conventional domestic phases. With unusual opportuni- 
ties for observation she has joined an admirable ability to see, 
to remember, and to reproduce in fitting and expressive lan- 
guage. Beside the privilege of reading in manuscript the 
pages which follow this, the writer has for many years enjoyed 
the personal acquaintance of the Marquise de Fontenoy and 
her kinsfolk, and heard from her own lips many of the most 
interesting incidents and descriptions that adorn this book 
long before the book was written or even planned. And, 
listening thus, and knowing well with what assured authority 
she spoke, he more than once ventured to suggest that what 
was so pleasant for a few to hear would be equally pleasant 
for many to read. This belief was strengthened by perusal 
of the manuscript, and will doubtless be amply confirmed by 
the reception the public will give to the completed volume. 



INTRODUCTION. 

As to the book, its title but imperfectly denotes its actual 
character. It is really the transformation of court life into 
current speech. It is a presentation of royalty in all its phases 
of splendor or of meanness ; a history of statesmanship and 
a chronicle of anecdotes, a gallery of portraits and a show-case 
of jewels. It opens the doors of the audience-chamber and 
of the boudoir. It places before the reader the occupants 
and close neighbors of the thrones of Europe ; their intel- 
lects, their characters, their speech, their faces and forms, 
their passions and manners, their very garb and equipage; 
and all by virtue of the author's unchallenged ability to say, 
"These things I myself have seen ; these things I myself have 
heard. These things I know." It is, then, a book on a most 
popular theme, written by a person of extraordinary fitness 
for the task. For such a work there can be needed no 
apology, nor felt a fear for its favorable reception. If one 
approaches it with even the least exalted motive — mere curi- 
osity — he will be more than satisfied ; nor will he be less 
who, in an austere spirit, seeks in it historic facts or encyclo- 
psedic information. Between the two there will be a multitude 
of readers of varying tastes and motives, all gaining here 
unfailingly the object of their quest — an instructive, enter- 
taining, and amusing living panorama of royal and imperial 
life, showing equally the jewel in the crown and the blot on 
the escutcheon. Unnumbered readers will thus find in the 
perusal of this work great pleasure, but not greater than the 
present writer finds in uttering these few and inadequate 
words of introduction. W. F, J. 



^1 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

^- PAGE 

Queen Victoria's Reign Begun with Prayer^The Young Queen's Training — 1 he 
Coronation — Her Lovemaking — The Marriage — The First Born, Princess Victoria — 
The First Son, the Prince of Wales — Death of the Prince Consort — The Prince of 
Wales' Wedding — Madame Kalomine's Escapades — The Queen's Wrath — " The 
Grand Duke's Wife is not Prepared to Sell Her Rights" — The Duchess of Albany — 
" Her Most Gracious Majesty's" Court — Tenants' Balls at Balmoral — "Earl Gray's 
Mixture" — The Queen's Diet — A Tiny Toddler's Mishap— The Queen's Robes, • . , 17 

II. 
The Queen's Entertainments at Buckingham Palace — The Queen's Receptions — 
A $250,000 Dessert Service — A Haunted Palace — Fishing at Invercauld Bridge — The 
Queen's Deer Forests — The Royal Stables — The Royal Riding School — The Prince of 
Wales' Famous Stables — The Royal Hounds — Her Majesty's Feline Friends and 
Pomeranian Dogs, 48 

III. 

The Princess of Wales — A Little Autocrat — Prince " Eddie " and Prince George 
— Betrothal of the Duke of Clarence and Princess May — The Duke of Clarence's In- 
come — "Jolly Little May Blossom" — The Penniless Prince of Teck — Prince George, 
the Sailor — The Duke of Clarence's Death — The Duchess of Fife — The Duke of Fife 
a Money-maker — The Decendants of Queen Victoria — The Faithless Prince of Saxe- 
Coburg Gotha — The Duchess of Edinburgh — The Queen's Pretty Granddaughters — An 
Actress Wife, 65 

IV. 
Queen Victoria's Picturesque Court — Some Court Salaries — Superb and Imposing 
Footmen and Trumpeters —The Heralds — The Throne — The Queen's Enormous Civil 
List — Her Division of it — The Jewel House — The Queen's Private Railway Saloons, 103 

V. 

Contrasting Characters — The Prince of Wales' Diplomacy — A Happy and Pleas- 
ure-loving Prince — A Great Improvement Attributable to the Prince of Wales — Bask- 
ing in the Royal Sunshine — The Baccarat Scandal — Unworthy Friends — The Prince's 
Chanty — An Anniversary Incident — Sandringham, 1 15 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 
Umberto I — " I have Done Nothing but my Duty" — The King Loves a News- 
paper, and Dreads a Book — £e Jioi des Marimottes — A Mountaineer's Life — Victor 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Emanuel's Extravagance — Queen Marguerite the Belle of Her Court — A Devoted 
Couple — The Queen's Chalet — The Prince of Naples — Royal Economy — The Duke of 
Aosta's Many Vicissitudes— A #4,000,000 Dowry — Madame Rosahe, 153 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ROUMANIA. 

King Carol I of Hohenzollern — Sigmaringen — " Herr Lehman, Merchant " — 
Queen Elizabeth — Carmen Sylva — " Doing Something " — The Asyle Helene— w^ Fight- 
ing Prince and His Sympathetic Wife — Carmen Sylva's Literary Labors — Her Country 
Residence at Castle Pelesch — A Hypnotized Queen — A Royal Betrothal — The Rou- 
manian Political Situation — The King's Civil List, 187 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK. 

King Christian — A Ruffian's Assault — Queen Louise's Affliction — The Princess 
Waldemar — A Royal Boxer — The Old Queen's Nervous Fears — The Castle of Peace — 
The Sailor Prince — Crown Prince Frederick — The Cost of Greatness — The Famous 
Countess Danner, 203 

THE REIGNING FAMILY OF MONTENEGRO. 

Cettigne — The Royal Palace — The National Dress — The Montenegrin Heir to 
Sovereignty — A Gambling Prince — A Popular Prediction Realized — A Romantic and 
Somewhat Unpleasant Experience, 215 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONACO. 

The Owner of the Great Gambling Hell — The Crowning Indignity — A Chivalrous 
Guest — A Most Captivating Princess — The Prince of Monaco's Marine Researches — 
His Interesting Methods — Marie Heine — The Gambling Tables and their Victims— A 
Vivid Description, 231 

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 
I. 

A Majestic Emperor — A Touching Incident — A Continuously Threatening Dan- 
ger — The Imperial Brothers — A Greek Betrothal — Alexander's Intolerance and 
Bigotry — Throwing Off the Cares of State — Continuously Guarded by Troops — Gov- 
ernment Loans — The Czar's Intimacy with Father Zudmawski — The Favorite Resi- 
dence of the Czar and Czarina — The Czar's Superb Collections— Receptions, .... 245 

IL 

The Czarina's Domesticity — Her Gorgeous Home Surroundings — " King Nico- 
tine's" Slave— Her Private Sitting-room — The Crown Jewels — The Czarina's Ex- 
quisite Taste — A Muscovite Dining-room —Regal Sporting in the Surf— A Shameful 
Act— A Sad Accident— The Czarewitch— The Heir Apparent's Trip— The " Der- 
shawa" and the "Czarewna" -A Russian Fete— Anitchkoff and the Winter Palace, 263 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

*■"■' PAGE 

A Much Maligned Monarch— "It is an Infamous Calumny" — a Beautiful but 
Unscrupulous Sister-in-law — A Philadelphia Adventuress and her Russian Victims — 
The Jealous Grand Duke — A Prodigious Theft — Escorted Outside the Borders — The 
Grand Duke's Second Scandal — The Intrigues of the Panslavists — Grand Duks Alexis' 
Violent Love — His Marriage Annulled — The Grand Duke Exiled — The Ambitious 
Duchess de Beauharnais — An After-tbeatre tete-a-tete — Pobiedonotsoff Honored — A 
Sub- Lieutenant's Escapade — A Jealous Count — Countess Dasckow — The Czar's Atti- 
tude toward the Hebrews, 281 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SAXONY. 
The Soldier-King — King John's Scholarly Attainments — A Silver Wedding Anni- 
versary — Queen Caroline's Great Sorrow — A Charming Actress Captivates the King- 
Old King John's Insane Passion — His Subsequent Confinement in a Monastery, . . . 309 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PORTUGAL. 
A Romantic History — Love Succumbs to Policy — A Young Queen Poisoned — The 
two Princes visit England — A Strange Coincidence — An Englishman's Antidote — A 
Dramatic Scene in the Privy Council Chamber — King Luis' Energetic and Clever 
Wife — Granja — Queen Amelie's Love of Sport — An Ancient Custom — Viewing Mum- 
mies of Family Ancestors, 315 

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 
I. 

An Ordained Ruler — A Witty, Worldly, and Cynical Cardinal Prince — " Such is 
the youth whose damp and clammy hands white-haired statesmen kiss " — A King's 
Extraordinary Vagaries — A Long List of Insane Monarchs — Emperor William's Hope- 
less Malady — The Emperor's Tact — Professor Hintzpeter's Influence Over Emperor 
William's Mind — An Astonishing Exhibition of Self-control — " Ein Glimmstengel " — 
An Interesting Menu — The History of Tokay Wine — Extravagant Table Luxuries — 
The Fabulous Value of the New Crown Jewels — A Characteristic New Year Celebra- 
tion — A Little Joke that Cost Dear — A Dangerous Guest — A Hubertiisstock — The 
Emperor's Shooting Lodge — Emperor William as a Dancer — An Aversion to Signing 
Death Warrants — The Emperor in London, 327 

II. 

A Royal Bride — An Imperial Wedding Gown — A Wonderful Wedding Dance — 
Unparalleled Splendor in the Royal Theatre — A Christening Festival — Extraordinary 
Endurance — A Superb Dining-hall — Some Beautiful Gowns — In the Army at Ten 
Years of Age — The Sharp-eyed Little Crown Prince — Royalty Raising the Financial 
Wind — The Emperor's Devotion to His Mother — A Beautiful Young Widow — An 
Audacious Editorial — The Interesting Princess Frederick Charles — Jealous Whisper- 
ings in German Boudoirs — A Laughable Adventiure, 363 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
THE REIGNING FAMILY OF BAVARIA. 

PAGE 

The Reigning King's Terrible Mental State — Thirty Cigarettes a Day — Sensational 
Reports — A Gleam of Intelligence — An Unfortunate Line of Bavarian Rulers — An 
Emblamatical Ornament of the King's own Designing — A Pet Craze — A Magnificent 
Cabinet de toilette — An ^8,coo,ooo Loan — The Demented Duchess Adalbert — Her Love 
for a German Actor— The Suicide of His Fiancee — Ruinous Extravagance — The 
Noble Charity of Duke Charles Theodore — His Famous Hostlerie — A Skillful Occu- 
list — Duke Louis' Actress Bride — His Surrender of Property Rights — The Famous 
Royal Brewery, Hofbrau House — Its Enormous Profits, 399 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF HOLLAND. 

A Youthful Queen — S jmething to Love — A Clever Little Linguist — Some Exqui- 
site Tapestries and Curiosities — " Live, if your Majesty does hurl that beautiful ink- 
stand at my head the Haguers will have been correct in their assertions" — Diploma- 
cy's Reward — The Little Queen's Feathered Friends— A ^5,000,000 Dinner and Tea 
Service — The Heir Apparent — Goethe — A Dazzling Offer— An Open Secret— A 
Purely Pleasure-Seeking Existence— An Immoral King— His Scandalous Intrigues 
with an Italian Diva — A French Variety Singer and a Pennsylvania Adventuress — 
Three Days of Luxury— An AU-Powerful Influence — A Sadly Disillusioned King, . 415 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 

The King's Double Team Driven with Difficulty — Poetry Laid Aside for Statecraft 
— A Royal Snub — An Interview with the Pope — Purely Temporal Sovereignty— Ignor- 
ing a Monarch— The Panama Canal Enterprise — King Oscar's Susceptibility to the 
Charms of the Gentler Sex — A Gulliver Among Lilliputians— Procuring a Husband — 
Marrying His Mother's Waiting-Maid, 433 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF WURTEMBERG. 

The King a Restaurateur— The Story of a Glutton— Royal Gourmands— A " Jolly 
Good Fellow" — A Popular and Plucky Queen — Beke's Adventures— Duke William's 
Many Wounds— Enormous Civil Lists, ' 445 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 

A Spanish Tradition — Chocolate at Seven — The Queen's Methodical Habits— A 
Tender-hearted Sovereign — A Loving Mother — Extravagant Waste Checked — Twelve 
Thousand Girls Address their Queen— Her Reception of Them— Bull Fighting the 
Popular Sport of Spain— A Combat that Beggars Description — The Enterprising and 
Widely-Circulated Bull Fighting Gazette— Affectionate and Mischievous Little Alfonso 
— " I am your King and the Ruler of all Spain "—A Grandiloquent Bishop Interrupted 
by the Baby King— The Many Trivial Functions and Ceremonies of the Madilene Court 
—A Popular Superstition Fulfilled— The Baby King's Annoying Pranks— His Fond- 
ness for Pantomimes— The Queen Pardons a Criminal under the Death Sentence each 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Good Friday — The Ceremony of "Ahmohada " — A Quaint Court Ceremony — Princess 
Josefa's Romantic Marriage — "A little man with a squeaky voice" — An Unfortunate 
Alliance — The Gruesome Custom of Mummifying Kings — Isabella's Open and Shame- 
less Immorality — " Good-n xtured with all " — Don Alfonso's Ardent Passions — A Civil 
List of $1,500,000 — The Carlist Question, 453 

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 
I. 

Archduke Charles Louis's Aversion to Politics — Fond of Art and Literature— His 
Great Grief — His Ultra-Aristocratic Ideas — President of the International Exhibition 
at Vienna — The Exquisitely Beautiful Archduchess Maria There=a — One of Her Ball 
Costumes of Fabulous Cost — Her Elegant Private Apartments — The Austrian Crown 
Jewels — A Remarkable Chatelaine Watch, 495 

11. 

The Empress's Court Drawing-rooms — Four Hundred Invitations — Beautiful Dia- 
mond Decorations — A Court Reception — The Hall of Ceremonies — A Quaint Custom — 
Christmas at the Austrian Court — A Dainty Table — The Laborious Duties of a Lady- 
in-Waiting — An Appreciated Mother-in-Law, 543 

III. 
The Late Crown Prince Rudolph — Archduke Charles Louis's Peculiarities — A 
Bride — The Friend of the Poor — Archduchess Maria Theresa's Magnificent Ball Cos- 
tume — The Hofburg — ^The Empress' Luxurious Private Apartment, 561 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BULGARIA. 

" Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown " — Steering a State Through Conspiracy 
and Intrigue — An Excellent and Astonishing Appointment — A Wily Conspirator — " Old 
School Manners" — "You Astonish Me!" — A Deep-laid Plot — Few Joys and Great 
Anxieties — Princess Clementine, 573 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BELGIUM, 

King Leopo'd — The Panama Enterprise^ — The Insane Queen — Her Fortune 
Squandered — A Present Withheld — The King's Simple Tastes at Home — " Never 
Shall a Drop of Blood Flow During My Reign ' ' — An Amateur Photographer — A 
Queenly Gift —Ciergnon, 587 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREECE. 

King George's Unpleasant Position — A Beautiful Country — Court Life at Athens — 
Queen Olga at Athens— Queen Olga Adored — A Clever Crown Princess — A Royal 
Greek Wedding — Prince George, . . . . • • ... ._. .... 595 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TURKEY. 

PACK 

The Sultan's Biographers — The Early Training of Hamid — Court Immorality — An 
Orthodox Turk — Private Theatricals — A Play with a Moral — The Sultan's Power — 
"Happy-go-lucky" Methods, 607 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SERVIA. 

A Melancholy King — Wealthy and Unscrupulous — Natalie — " Well, gentlemen, I 
am what you have made me " — Orientalism — Expensive Prussians, • 621 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 

PAGE. 

Queen Victoria in Her Jubilee Year (Photogravure) Frontispiece. 

Buckingham Palace, 21 

Judge Huddleston of the Supreme Bench, 25 

Queen Victoria 29 

Lady Brooke, n 

Piper 92D (Gordon) Highlanders, 39 

Joseph Chamberlain {An Autograph Portrait), 41 

Salisbury {An Autograph Portrait), 45 

Audience- Room at Windsor Castle, 56 

The Duke of Norfolk, 58 

A Fox Hunt — The Start, 59 

A Fox Hunt— The Finish, 60 

Hampton Court, 61 

The Princess of Wales, 67 

The Duke of Clarence and Avondale, 71 

The Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Princess Victoria May of Teck, . 75 

Prince George of Wales, 79 

Signor TosTi, Queen Victoria's Favorite Musician, 83 

The Marchioness of Stafford, 95 

Queen Victoria's Throne, in 

The Prince OF Wales, 117 

Princess Victoria of Wales, 121 

The Duke and Duchess of Fife, 141 

ITALY. 

The King of Italy, 154 

Drawing-room of the King, 156 

Queen Marguerite, • 158 

A Bird's Eye View of Florence, 161 

Boudoir of Queen Marguerite, 163 

The Queen's Bed-room, 166 

The Crown Prince, 168 

Via Roma, Naples, 173 

San Carlos — Royalty's Superb Theatre, 179 

ROUMANIA. 

The Queen (Carmen Sylva), 195 

The King, 188 

The Crown Prince, 200 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

DENMARK. page 

The King of Denmark, 206 

The Crown Prince AND Family, 211 

MONTENEGRO. 

The Reigning Prince, 216 

The Princess, 222 

MONACO. 

A View ok the Principality, 233 

The Theatre or Casino of Monte Carlo 236 

Ante-room in the Casino, 237 

A Decorative Panel in the Casino, 238 

RUSSIA. 

The Czar, 247 

The Palace at Kremlin, 264 

The Czarowitch, 274 

Saloon on the Czar's Private Yacht, 276 

Study on the Czar's Private Yacht, 276 

The Czarina, 277 

Grand Duke Vladimer, 284 

Grand Duchess Vladimer, 285 

Grand Duke Alexis, . 291 

Grand Duke George, 300 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SAXONY. 

The King of Saxony, , 310 

PORTUGAL. 

The King of Portugal, 317 

The Queen of Portugal, , - 320 

The Dowager Queen, 323 

GERMANY. 

Emperor Frederick, 328 

The Old Kaiser, 341 

The Emperor's Bed-Chamber, 344 

Summer Residence of the Emperor, 346 

Diadem of the Empress, 348 

Crown of the Emperor, 349 

The Emperor's Hunting Lodge, 352 

Troika Presented to the Emperor by the Czar of Russia 357 

The Four Generations, 359 

Wij.LiAM II and His Family, ,.....,,,,,,,..,,,,,,,. 36^ 



a 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGK 

The Standard of the Emperor, 369 

Crown Prince Frederick, 376 

William II AND His Son OFF FOR Their Morning Ride, 381 

The Widowed Empress, 384 

Count Hatzfeldt, 389 

The Duchess of Mecklenberg-Strelitz, 395 

BAVARIA. 

The Imperial Coach of the Regent, 401 

The Regent of Bavaria, 404 

The Imperial Sleigh OF the Regent OF Bavaria, 406 

Duke Charles Theodore, 409 

HOLLAND. 

The Queen of Holland, 416 

The Queen Regent, 423 

SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 

The King of Sweden and Norway, 434 

The Queen, 436 

The Crown Princess, 439 

The Crown Prince, 443 

Vv^URTEMBERG. 

The King of Wurtemberg, 446 

SPAIN. 

The Royal Family at Tea, 458 

Don Carlos, 468 

Little Alfonso XII, King of Spain, 471 

Princess Isabella, 480 

Princess Eulalie, 485 

Ex-Queen Isabella, 489 

The Late King, 490 

Princess Mercedes, 492 

La Grange, the Summer Residence of THE Royal Family, 493 

THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 

Emperor Francis Joseph, 497 

Crown Prince Rudolph, 507 

Archduke Albrecht and Family, 511 

Peristyle of the Empress' Villa, 512 

Archduchess Maria Theresa, 523 

Archduchess Valerie, 526 

The Imperial State Carriage, ...........: 5^9 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FAGS 

Crown Princess Stephanie's Daughter, 536 

The Widowed Crown Princess Stephanie, 547 

Archduke Charles Louis, 562 

The Empress of Austria, , 566 

Reception-room of the Imperial Palace, 569 

Library of the Imperial Palace, 571 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BULGARIA. 

Prince Ferdinand, 585 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BELGIUM. 

The King of the Belgians, 588 

The Queen of Belgium, 592 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREECE. 

The King of Greece, 596 

The Queen of Greece, 599 

Prince George, 603 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TURKEY. 

Dining-room in the Sultan's Palace, 612 

The Sultan's Audience-room, 613 

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SERVIA. 

The King of Servia, 622 

Ex-King Milan, 623 

Ex-Queen Natalie, 625 



4 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

GREAT BRITAIN. 
I. 

VERY characteristic is the manner in which Queen Vic- 
toria received the news of her succession to the throne, 
on the night of the 19th to the 20th of June, 1837. The young 
Princess had just celebrated her i8th birthday and was then a 
blooming girl full of life and spirit who, if not regularly 
pretty, yet possessed a charm of her own quite undeniable in 
its winninof o-race and sweetness. 

A little after three o'clock in the morning the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, the Lord Chamberlain, and Sir Henry Hal- 
ford (the Royal physician) , who at twenty minutes after two 
o'clock had seen King William die, went off from Windsor to 
the palace at Kensington to hail the Princess Victoria as 
Queen. 

When they reached the Palace all its inmates were wrapped 
in profound slumber, and it was only with the greatest diffi- 
culty that they could obtain admission. After some delay the 
young Princess came to them, wrapped in a loose white 
dressinor o-own with her magnificent hair fallinor over her 
shoulders and with her eyes full of tears. She entered the 
room with her mother by her side. Neither were unpre- 
pared for the news, but the Princess was nevertheless greatly 
aftected, and it went forth to the world as an omen of the 
happiest augury that the young girl had "wept to learn she 
was Queen." 

2 17 



l8 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

As she entered the room the Archbishop and his two com- 
panions dropped on one knee before her and kissing her hand 
hailed her as Queen. Then, by the special request of the new 
sovereign, they all knelt together in prayer, the Archbishop 
invokino- a blessing on the era about to open for the Princess 
and the people of Great Britain. It may therefore be said 
that Queen Victoria's reign was begun by prayer. 

The young Queen had been carefully trained with her high 
destiny in view. She had not been much before the public, 
though by judicious travel she had become acquainted with a 
considerable part of her future kingdom. Her education had 
been conducted by the Duchess of Northumberland, under 
the constant superintendence of her mother, the Duchess of 
Kent, who devoted the privacy of her second widowhood to 
the preparation of her daughter for public duty, and her per- 
fect demeanor and bearing when she first assumed her duties 
as a sovereign filled everybody with admiration and wonder. 

The reign, therefore, not only began most successfully, but 
with unusual anticipation and satisfaction. A new era had 
indeed begun, for from that time Court profligacy and Court 
extravagance were at an end in England. The young Queen 
paid her father's debts In the first year of her reign, paid her 
mother's debts in the second year, and never incurred any 
debts herself, nor asked Parliament for any addition to her 
income. 

The Coronation took place on June 28th, 1838, and there 
was more than usual splendor displayed at the ceremony, and 
more than usual rejoicing all over the land. 

The scene In Westminster Abbey was a brilliant spectacle. 
A large proportion of the gentlemen present were either in 
military or official attire, and the Ambassadors were superbly 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 9 

arrayed, one of them, Prince Esterhazy, being covered widi 
diamonds, even to tlie heels of his boots, whilst the peers 
were in robes of State, and the peeresses " shone like a rain- 
bow" in their profusion of precious gems. 

The Queen walked up the nave escorted by two Bishops, 
eight daughters of English Dukes bearing her train, and fifty 
ladies of rank holding offices in her household following. 
The Archbishop of Canterbury having presented Her Majesty 
as the " undoubted Queen of the realm," the building re- 
sounded with the shouts of " God save Queen Victoria." 

The customary ceremonials followed, and then the final act 
was performed by the Archbishop reverently placing the 
Crown on the Queen's head. The peers and peeresses at 
the same moment put on their coronets, and the effect of the 
flashing jewels as this was done was startling in its brilliancy. 
The Queen was then enthroned in the Chair of Homage, and 
the peers came forward in turn, touched the Crown, and knelt 
and kissed her hand. 

It is a testimony to the truly womanly and domestic char- 
acter of the Oueen that her marriaee was, what it should be 
to every woman, the central event of her life, the point on 
which her whole after history turned. It was generally known 
that before she came to the Throne an intimate friendship had 
existed between the young Princess and her maternal cousins, 
the sons of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. Albert, the 
younger of these two sons, was three months younger than his 
cousin, " the Mayflower," as the PrincessVictoria was designated 
by their maternal grandmother. It was, of course, for the Queen 
to ask Prince Albert to marry her, and not for him to ask her, 
and on the 1 5 th of October, whilst he was on a visit at Windsor, 
she sent for him to her room, where he found her alone. They 



20 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

talked for a few minutes, and then she told him her love, and 
that it would ensure her whole life's happiness if she married 
him. I need not add that the Prince responded with heartfelt 
gratitude and joy to this outburst of affection on the part of 
the young sovereign, and that halcyon hours began for them 
both on that memorable day. 

Victoria had nevertheless not only to declare her love to 
die man of her choice ; she had on a later day to tell it to the 
assembled Privy Council. " Precisely at two," she went in. 
The room was full. Lord Melbourne, then Prime Minister, 
looked kindly at her with tears in his eyes, but he was not 
near the Queen. She then read her short declaration. She 
was trembling violently, but did not make one mistake, and 
she felt most happy and thankful v,^hen it was over. 

The marriage was not long delayed. The wedding was cele- 
brated on the loth of February, 1840, with a splendor unu- 
sual, even in Royal marriages, and the popular rejoicing was 
universal. Contrary to the established custom, by which Royal 
marriages have been performed in the evening, the Queen's 
marriage took place at one o'clock in the afternoon, and thus 
a new precedent was set which was followed all through the 
reign. 

The Prince, with his father and brother, left the Bucking- 
ham Palace at a quarter to twelve for St. James's Palace, and 
half an hour later the Royal bride made the same journey, 
accompanied by the Duchess of Kent. The streets passed 
through rang with joyous acclamations. The Qiieen was 
dressed in white satin, with a deep trimming of Honiton lace. 
She also wore a Honiton veil, and was wreathed in orange- 
blossoms. The satin was manufactured at Spitalfield's, and 
the lace at Honiton. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the 




^ 



21 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Bishop of London took the service, and the Queen made the 
promise of " obedience " to her newly-naturahzed subject. 
Then the cannons roared from the Tower and the parks, and 
the bells of London and Westminster pealed forth their con- 
ofratulations. The weddino- breakfast was given at Buckinof- 
ham Palace. 

The marriage was immensely popular. It was a true-love 
match, and the people rejoiced in it as though no such mar- 
riage of affection had ever taken place before. There was, 
however, a good deal of difficulty about settling the position 
of the Prince Consort. Parliament had given him ^^30,000 
a year, instead of ^50,000, which had been asked. His own 
good sense solved the difficulty of his position. In a letter to 
the Duke of Wellington, declining the command of the army 
which had been foolishly offered him, he described the prin- 
ciple on which he had acted from the first. It was to " sink 
his own individual position in that of the Queen — to aim at 
no power by himself or for himself, but to be the head of her 
household, her sole confidential adviser in politics, and only 
assistant in her communications with the officers of the Gov- 
ernment." Even in this line, to which he rigidly adhered, 
Prince Albert was often exposed to public suspicion, and at 
one period to considerable unpopularity. He certainly took 
much part in foreign affairs, and his very last act was to write 
a memorandum for the Queen on the communication which 
the Government proposed to make the United States on the 
affair of Trent. He wrote this on his death-bed on the ist 
December, 1861. 

The Queen was reverenced, as no other English monarch 
had ever been before, for domestic virtues which few other 
English sovereigns have ever possessed. She was known to 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 2 3 

be a good mother, and Prince Albert was known to be a 
good father; and by these unusual titles to popular affection 
they gave new strength and popularity to the Throne itself. 

The first of the Royal children to present itself was Vic- 
toria Adlaide Mary Louisa, Princess Royal of England, now 
the widowed Empress Frederick, of Germany. She was born 
at Buckingham Palace on November 21st, 1840. It is the 
constitutional duty of the members of the Privy Council to 
be in attendance at the birth of an Heir to the Throne ; and, 
consequently^ when the birth was announced there were pres- 
ent at the Palace the Lord Chancellor, Lord Melbourne, Lord 
Palmerston, Sir John Russell, and many others, with the Duch- 
ess of Kent, the Duke of Sussex, the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, and a host of medical men. They received an early in- 
troduction to the Princess, but as the young lady was rather 
noisy, she was soon taken away. The Tower guns were fired 
in honor of the event, and there were many rejoicings in the 
country. On the 9th of the same month in the following 
year, the career of the Prince of Wales had its beginning. 
He was born at Buckingham Palace, the hour being eleven 
o'clock. He was also introduced at once to the Privy Coun- 
cillors and other distinguished people, who signed a declara- 
tion in the usual way as to the birth of an heir to the British 
Crown. This second ev^nt made the Queen very happy. 

The Prince was christened with orreat ceremonial at St. 
George's Chapel, Windsor Palace, on January 25th, 1842, the 
King of Prussia being chief sponsor. He was christened 
Albert Edward, the second name being that of his maternal 
grandfather, the Duke of Kent. 

Prince Alfred Ernest Albert, afterward Duke of Edinburgh, 
was born in August, 1844. The Princess Helena (Princess 



24 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Christian), was born in 1846 ; Princess Louise (Marchioness 
of Lome) in 1848; Prince Arthur (Duke of Connaught), in 
1850; Prince Leopold (late Duke of Albany), in 1853; and 
Princess Beatrice (Princess Henry of Battenberg), in 1857. 

The totally unexpected death of Prince Albert was to the 
Queen so terrible a blow that she can be said never to have 
recovered from it. Like a destructive flash of liohtning' out 
of a perfectly clear sky, came the announcement of Decem- 
ber 8th, 1 861, that he was confined to his room by a very 
bad cold. A few days later the statement was made that he 
was suffering from fever, but that it was not attended by 
serious symptoms, though likely to be prolonged. In another 
day he was somewhat worse, but still no public apprehension 
was felt, and when, at midnight on Saturday, the 14th, the 
people who live within its sound heard St. Paul's bell tolling, 
and when on Sunday morning the people in the great towns 
were arrested by a funeral knell, nobody thought at first the 
meaning of the unusual sounds. The news on that fateful 
Sunday morning met the people on their way to church and 
chapel that the Prince had died at ten minutes to eleven the 
night before, and was everywhere received with consternation 
and surprise. 

The body of the Prince Consort now rests in the noble 
mausoleum erected by the Queen at Frogmore. Since the 
death of her husband, the Oueen — while not neorlectine State 
affairs — has lived to a large extent a retired life, and the cere- 
monial duties of her position have been chiefly borne by the 
Prince and Princess of Wales. 

Prince Albert was in the very zenith of his fame and hap- 
piness when he was taken away. The Queen herself said of 
his death, that the loss to her was so great that it would be 




Judge Huddleston of the Supreme Court of England. 



26 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

the beginning of a new reign. It was practically the begin- 
nino- of a new reio-n. The Queen's widowhood severed her 
from politics. The Court was eclipsed ; and for several years 
the widowed Queen made no public appearances. 

The great event of the year 1863 was the marriage of the 
Prince of Wales with Alexandra, daughter of the King of 
Denmark. The whole country was alive with excitement and 
rejoicing. The Princess was accompanied to England by her 
father, mother, and sister, and was met at Gravesend by the 
Prince of Wales, who drove with her through the streets of 
London, amid the enthusiastic cheering of enormous crowds. 

When Eton was reached, on the way to Windsor, the boys 
cheered again for the beautiful young Princess. The wedding 
took place at St. George's Chapel, on the loth of March, the 
Queen attending in widow's weeds, but taking no part in the 
proceedings. All the other members of the family were 
present with the Prince of Prussia and members of many 
Royal families abroad. The Princess wore a dress of white 
satin and Honiton lace, with a silver-moire train. Her jew- 
elry was very magnificent, a riviere of diamonds, presented 
by the City of London, being alone worth ^50,000. An opal 
and diamond bracelet which she wore was the o-ift of the 
ladies of Manchester. At the close of the ceremony, the 
bride and bridegroom returned to the Castle, where they were 
received by the Queen. London and many other towns 
were brilliantly illuminated that night, and the scale on which 
the rejoicings were held proved the truth of the Laureate's 
line, "We are each all Dane in our welcome of thee." The 
honeymoon of the Royal pair was spent at Osborne, the 
Queen's beautiful home in the Isle of Wight. 

A mournful incident, which brought the Royal family within 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. I'J 

the circle of personal sympathy, even of multitudes who have 
never seen them, was the death of Princess Alice, on the 14th 
of December, 1878. The death of the Princess on the anni- 
versary of the death of the Prince Consort was naturally felt 
by the Queen as a re-opening of the old sorrows. She had 
been her father's tender and watchful nurse ; she had lived as 
the exemplary wife of a Prince who was not rich as English 
Princes are ; and she died of diphtheria caught in the nursing 
of one of her children, 

A few years ago a great sensation was caused in European 
circles by the anonymous publication of a book which, under 
the title of the Roi de Thessalie, gave a very graphic and 
detailed account of the matrimonial adventures of the reign- 
ing Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, the husband of the 
late Princess Alice, of Great Britain. 

Notwithstanding her reported denial, there is not the slight- 
est doubt but that the author of the book was Mme. de 
Kalomine, the divorced wife by second marriage of the Grand 
Duke, and if any further proofs thereof were needed beyond 
those contained in the narrative itself, the fact of its having 
been dedicated to the Grand Duchess Serge, of Russia, nee 
Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, the only lady of the Royal 
family who showed any sympathy to her father's morganatic 
wife, would be sufficient to convince the most skeptical. 

Under the most transparent of pseudonyms the story of 
the whole scandal is given, showing the part taken therein by 
Queen Victoria, and it is needless to add that the appearance 
of the book excited intense wrath in exalted quarters. 

M. de Kalomine, who was at the time Russian Charge 
d'Affaires at Darmstadt, became jealous of the unconcealed 
admiration on the part of the Grand Duke for his lovely wife, 



28 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

on whose account he had already been obliged to fight three 
duels. Warned by an anonymous letter, he met her as she 
was riding home alone from a tete-d-tete promenade with the 
Grand Duke in the Heiligenberg woods, and accused her of 
being the paramour of the sovereign at whose Court he was 
accredited ; he lashed her face repeatedly with his riding- 
whip, causing her horse to bolt. Falling from her saddle, and 
slightly injured, she was carried home, and remained confined 
three weeks to her bed with an attack of brain fever. On 
her recovery she found that in consequence of a private tele- 
gram from the Grand Duke her husband had been recalled, 
and had been dispatched on a special mission to Japan. 

About a week after Mme. de Kalomine's recovery the 
Grand Duke visited her, and having declared his love, urged 
her to ask for a divorce on the ground of her husband's 
ill-treatment, and afterward to marry him. Louis IV of 
Hesse-Darmstadt, who was then only a little over forty years 
old, was still one of the handsomest and finest specimens of 
manhood in Europe, and it was not difficult for him to per- 
suade her to separate from M. de Kalomine, who, with his 
correctly-trimmed whiskers, short, stout figure, and generally 
graceless appearance, presented but a sorry contrast to the 
Grand Duke. 

Ten months later, in the spring of 1884, Mme. de Kalomine 
obtained her divorce, and the date on which she was free to 
marry again fell just two days before that fixed for the wed- 
ding of Princess Victoria of Hesse to Prince Louis of Batten- 
berg. Mme. de Kalomine lived so retired and quietly during 
the whole time that although the Grand Duke's admiration 
for her was whispered about the city, nobody dreamed that 
anything serious was about to happen. 




Queen Victoria. 



30 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

The day before the arrival of Queen Victoria to attend the 
weddinor of her orranddaus^hter, Mme. de Kalomine entreated 
the Grand Duke to hesitate before finally uniting himself to 
her. She had fears as to the future, and reminded him that 
Queen Victoria was most anxious that he should marry 
Princess Beatrice as soon as ever the Deceased Wife's Sister 
Bill had been passed in the English Parliament. The Grand 
Duke smilingly remarked in reply that his respected mother- 
in-law would know nothing about the matter until after the 
ceremony, when it would be too late for any kind of obstruction. 

On the following day Queen Victoria reached Darmstadt 
with Princess Beatrice. At length the day — April 30th, 1884 
— fixed for the marriaoe of Princess Victoria arrived. The 
wedding was to take place without much pomp and ceremony 
in the evening. At 1 1 o'clock on the morning of the same 
day the secret marriage between the Grand Duke and Mme. 
de Kalomine took place in the Palace Chapel. The only per- 
sons present were the Ministers of Justice and of the Interior. 
At the moment of the benediction a terrible thunder-storm ap- 
peared to predict troubles and sorrows to the newly married 
couple, who immediately retired to the very room used by the 
late Princess Alice as her boudoir, where they remained seve- 
ral hours, while the old Minister of the Interior gfuarded the 
door, frightened out of his wits lest the Queen should notice 
her son-in-law's prolonged absence. 

At 5 o'clock the grand ceremony of Princess Victoria's mar- 
riage took place. The royal cortege entered the chapel, the 
Grand Duke leading his daughter, the Queen following alone, 
then Princess Beatrice, and followlne her the Crown Prince 
and Princess of Germany, the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
the Battenberg family, etc. 



il 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 3 1 

The Queen was not present at the subsequent State ban- 
quet, preferring to dine alone with her younger grandchildren. 
Suddenly, about 1 1 o'clock at night, when she was about to 
retire to rest, the Crown Prince of Germany arrived and de- 
manded an immediate audience on matters of the very high- 
est importance. The Queen, frightened by the agitation de- 
picted on his countenance, exclaimed, " Good heavens, Fritz, 
what has happened?" In a few words he informed her of 
the secret marriage which had taken place in the morning. 
On hearing this the Queen uttered a terrible cry. What ! the 
husband of her favorite daughter Alice had dared to desecrate 
the memory of his dead wife by marrying a divorced woman 
— a mere nobody ! She become so red in the face and ex- 
perienced such difficulty in getting her breath that the Crown 
Prince, fearing an apoplectic fit, was about to summon help, 
when she stopped him. " Where are they now ?" she ex- 
claimed. 

The Prince informed her that they had retired to rest over 
two hours ago. Furiously the old lady tore open her door 
and was about to rush to the Grand Duke's apartments, when 
the Crown Prince, foreseeing the scandal which would ensue, 
held her back by main force until she had become a little more 
calm. She then decided to summon the Grand Duke to her 
presence. 

The latter was suddenly awakened from his sweet slumbers 
by the knocking at the door of a chamberlain, who, in trem- 
blinor accents, informed his master that the Oueen insisted on 
his appearing before her at once. His wife, very rightly fear- 
ing the worst, clung to him in despair, crying that she would 
never see him again. Her husband soothed her with promises 
as best he could, and twenty minutes later stood in the presence 



32 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

of his Irate mother-in-law, with whom were gathered the 
Crown Prince and Princess of Germany, Princess Beatrice, 
and his own Ministers of Foreign Affairs and of Justice whom 
the Queen had summoned. 

'* You must drive that liorrible woman away this very night,'* 
exclaimed the latter, " and you must sign this decree of ex- 
pulsion which I have already had drawn up by your Ministers, 
Good God ! if I could drive the creature out of the place with 
my own hands/' shrieked the Queen frantically. The Grand 
Duke who, althouofh a Qriant in stature, is blessed with the 
weakest of characters, and has absolutely no strength of mind, 
after some hesitation gave way to his mother-in-law's wrath 
and signed the document. 

His bride, who, notwithstanding her fright, had finally 
dropped off to sleep, was awakened about two hours later by 
the disagreeable old grand-mistress of the robes, who com- 
municated to her in the most offensive manner possible the 
Royal decree of expulsion and stated that she had orders not 
to leave her until she left the Palace. The unfortunate 
woman, on seeing her husband's signature to the document, 
understood that she was forsaken by the man who, but a few 
hours previously, had sworn to love and protect her. While 
she was hurriedly dressing, with the assistance of her Russian 
maid, a post-chaise, with an escort of about forty mounted 
police, stopped at the nearest door of the Palace, and she was 
hustled into it and rapidly driven to the nearest frontier. 
The only person to wish her God-speed was the old nurse of 
Princess Elizabeth (subsequent Grand Duchess Serge of 
Russia), who conveyed messages of sympathy and affection 
from her young mistress to the unfortunate woman, and 
brough to her the Princess's own rug, as the night was 




Lady Brooke. 



34 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

bitterly cold. As she drove away she caught a glimpse of 
the pale face of her husband peering out from the window, 
while at the next she perceived the angry face of the Queen. 

The ex-Mme. de Kalomine took refuge at a convent just 
across the frontier. Two days later a Royal messenger 
arrived bearing a written offer on the part of the Grand 
Duke to create her Countess of Romrod, and to confer on 
her the estate of the same name, on the condition thai she 
would surrender all her rights as wife of the sovereign, and 
never ao^ain set foot within his dominions. 

She contented herself with returning the letter with a^ in- 
dorsement to the effect " that the Grand Duke's wife is not 
prepared to sell her rights." Summoning the leader of the 
opposition party at Darmstadt, who happened to be a very 
clever lawyer, she placed the whole matter in his hands. The 
latter commenced by having a certified copy of the marriage, 
with the Grand Duke's signature, published in all the Ger- 
man papers, and then proceeded to defend his client in the 
action for divorce, on the ground of incompatibility of temper, 
which the Grand Duke had brought against iier. So cleverly 
was she defended, that the action was about to fall to the 
ground, when, at the last moment, the Presiding Judge, won 
over by the promise of a much coveted title of nobility, 
suddenly remembered that the Grand Duke held a command 
in the German army, and that officers are not allowed to 
marry without the Emperor's permission. On these pre- 
posterous grounds the marriage was declared annulled and 
illegal and the divorce decreed. 

The poor woman now resides in relative poverty at Dres- 
den with the little boy, issue of her marriage with the Grand 
Duke. The latter, immediately after the expulsion, was taken 



i 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 35 

off to England by his mother-in-law, who managed to keep 
him at Balmoral for over three months, by which time he had 
got over any feelings of regret for his lovely wife. 

The Crown Prince and Princess of Germany left Darm- 
stadt in disgust on the very night of the scandal, and the 
Prince and Princess of Wales did not attempt to conceal their 
sorrow and regret of so unseemly an affair. 

Less than six years after the death of Princess Alice 
the Royal family had again to mourn a breach in 
its ranks. Prince Leopold had always been delicate, but of 
late years there had been more reason to hope that 
he might some day be well if not strong. He had gone to 
Cannes in the beginning of 1884 to escape from the asperf 
ties of an English spring. A sprain to his knee in runnin;.^ 
up-stairs laid him up, and a fit of epilepsy suddenly closed his 
life. He had not been married two years, and it was scarcely 
three since he had taken his seat in the House of Lords as 
Duke of Albany. After his funeral the Queen wrote a letter 
to the nation, expressing her deep sense of the sympathy 
that had been felt by Her Majesty and the Duchess of Albany 
in their bereavement. When this letter was published, the 
Queen had gone over to Darmstadt to be present at the mar- 
riacje of Prince Louis, of Battenbero-, with her o-randdaucrh- 
ter, the Princess Victoria of Hesse. This marriage, as well 
as that of the Queen's youngest daughter to Prince Henry of 
Battenberof, orave orreat offense to the Prince of Wales, and to 
most members of the Royal family. 

Prince Henry is the son of the Princess Julia of Battenberg, 
whose blood is of the most plebeian hue, and whose brother, 
a Hebrew socialist, of the name of Hauke, was killed by the 
military during a riot in 1849. 



36 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

The Queen's infatuation for her son-in-law, Henry of Bat- 
tenberg, is most extraordinary in a woman of her judgment 
and common sense, for the Prince, excepting for his good 
looks, has absolutely nothing to commend him. He is far 
from brioht, and his conduct before and since his marriage 
has been anything but admirable. 

How securely he stands in the Queen's favor is shown by 
the fact that he can afford to leave Court from time to time, 
and go either for cruises on the beautiful yacht presented to 
him by Her Majesty, or else visit his brother Alexander, who 
incurred Her Majesty's bitterest resentment by frustrating her 
pet project of a marriage between him and her granddaugh- 
ter, Princess Victoria of Prussia, whom he jilted on the very 
eve of the date appointed for their wedding at Windsor Cas- 
tle, in order to become the husband of the beautiful actress, 
Mile. Loisinger. 

One of the most popular, unassuming, and kind-hearted of 
all the members of the British Royal family, however, is the 
widowed Duchess of Albany, who has recently come before 
the public in the role of an inventor. 

The Duchess, though not beautiful, has a very sweet and 
attractive face, and while she has truly and sincerely mourned 
her husband, yet, on the whole, she cannot but be happier 
with her children now as a widow than she was as the wife of 
the youngest of Queen Victoria's sons. 

During the Duke's lifetime, after her marriage to him, she 
was never free from anxiety and care. For he was not only 
subject to terrible epileptic fits, but, moreover, he was deficient 
in the normal quota of epidermis. His veins and arteries 
were insufficiently covered and protected by skin, and the 
consequence was that the least exertion, the slightest scratch, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 37 

was wont to bring on hemorrhages of the most alarming 
character. 

What rendered matters very difficult was that he was ex- 
tremely self-willed; and he insisted on marrying the Duchess, 
notwithstanding the fact that every one of his family was 
opposed to the match on the ground of his precarious health. 
He died very suddenly at Cannes, as I said above, in the 
midst of a terrible fit of epilepsy and hemorrhage combined, 
brought on by over-exertion. Indeed, so great was the 
hemorrhage that it gave rise at the time to a widespread 
rumor that he had slashed himself to death with sharp scissors 
durincr the throes of the fit. 

In one way, however, his marriage was a great relief to his 
family, for the Duke possessed the unfortunate habit while a 
bachelor of making friends and associates of people who 
were in every way unworthy of the honor. 

Indeed, on more than one occasion was the Prince of Wales' 
forced to interfere in a rather vigorous and stern manner to 
prevent his youngest and best-loved brother from showing 
himself in public with men of more than questionable repu- 
tation, whose association with the Duke gave rise to many 
malicious rumors concerning his character. The Duchess is 
a sister of the Queen Regent of Holland, a widow like herself. 
Both are now in easy circumstances, and their present 
affluence presents a striking contrast to the bitter penury of 
their youth at the impoverished Court of their father, the 
r -igning Prince of the tiny principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont. 

Only those who have had an opportunity of coming into 
frequent contact with Her Majesty the Queen are acquainted 
with the irritability and imperiousiiess of her character, which 
have not been diminished, but rather increased by a half a 



38 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

century of rulership over a considerable portion of the 
globe. 

Life at the English Court is by no means agreeable, and 
popular ideas as to the basking in the sunshine of Royalty 
are quickly dispelled by the frowns which so frequently cloud 
the countenance of " Her Most Gracious Majesty." The 
least trifle annoys her, and although under ordinary circum- 
stances a woman of extraordinary common sense, she be- 
comes at times utterly unreasonable, and even harsh. 

Some of the most loyal and deserving members of her 
household have been dismissed and turned away almost at a 
moment's notice, not for any misconduct, but merely because 
their appearance had ceased to please, and had become tire- 
some to her very capricious Majesty. 

There is one case, that of Lord Playfair, who, notwith- 
Standine his lone and devoted services to the Prince Consort, 
was removed from his post of gentleman-in-waiting because 
the Queen had objection to his legs, which, being short and 
deflected, did not appear to advantage in knee-breeches and 
silk stockings. Mr. Lyon Playfair, as he was then, has since 
been consoled by a peerage, and by his marriage to a very 
charming American girl. Miss Russel, of Boston. 

Although the Queen's irritability keeps the members of her 
household in perpetual apprehension of Royal displeasure 
and wiggings that are extremely Imperial in their vigor, yet 
she is constantly doing little acts of considerate and motherly 
kindness which endear her to both her immediate entourage 
and to her subjects. 

I saw the fact mentioned in a paper the other day that 
Queen Victoria had not enjoyed a dance since the year 1861, 
when she lost both her mother and her husband. This is 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



39 



true as regards the State balls at Buckingham Palace, not one 
of which has been honored by her presence during the last 
thirty years. 

It is a great mis- 
take, however, to be- 
lieve that she has 
never danced since 
then. For at the ten- 
ants' and servants' 
balls, which she gives 
every year at Bal- 
moral Castle during 
her stay in the High- 
lands, she has fre- 
qiuently trod a meas- 
u.re with some one of 
her favorite attend- 
ants, who, it may well 
be imagined, enjoy 
the privilege with a 
keen relish. 

On many occasions 
the late John Brown 
was her partner, and 
it was with mingled 
admiration and awe 
that both the numer- 
ous guests, whose 
good fortune it was 

to be amono- those ^'^^•'^ 92d (cordon) Highlanders. 

present, staying at the Castle and the members of the house- 




40 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

hold saw the stout Httle lady, their august sovereign, spinning 
about in the most lively fashion to the tune of a regular 
Scotch reel. 

Indeed, so often did the Queen thus amuse herself that she 
aroused the ill-natured comment in the southern portion of 
her dominions, to the effect that if she was so fond of dancing 
she would do far better to select members of the old nobility 
as partners in dignified square dances than to dance jigs with 
Scotch menials. 

Queen Victoria is by no means the only sovereign lady 
who is fond of dancing. Both Queen Marguerite of Italy 
and the Empress of Russia are passionately fond of waltzing, 
and are, moreover, indefatigable. They enjoy a very notable 
advantage over the remainder of their sex, for, whereas, 
under ordinary circumstances, women are forced to wait until 
invited to dance by men, ladies of royal rank have the privi- 
lege of selecting their partners. This they do through their 
chamberlains and gentlemen-in-waiting, who bear to the 
partner of their choice the Royal command to dance such 
and such a waltz with them. 

If the cavalier in question happens to be already engaged 
for the dance with some other lady, he is forced to leave her 
in the lurch, as everything has to give way to these Royal 
commands. 

The gardener of the Queen is a very important personage 
whose post is no sinecure, for Her Majesty absolutely refuses 
to eat any fruit save that which is grown at Frogmore, near 
Windsor, and there is a perpetual packing and sending off 
huge hampers of fruit and vegetables wherever the Queen 
may be. 

By the way, the Queen has now to be very careful about 




Joseph Chamberlain. 

An Autograph Likeness presented to the Author. 



42 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. ' 

her diet, and never eats underdone beef, mutton, or veal. 
Pork, Her Majesty never touches, except when made into 
sausages. Even the Royal cook has to chop the pork as fine 
as sand, and put plenty of stale bread-crumbs among the 
meat, and about ten grains of fine powdered dry sage in each 
sausao-e, and a little home-cured Melton Mowbray dried. 
Unsmoked bacon is always cooked with the sausages. Crabs 
or lobsters are not thought of, and very seldom oysters. The 
game put on the table must be high, but not too much so, 
and black currant jelly is always on the table. Her Majesty 
is a very healthy woman, but not very strong. She drinks 
little, but at luncheon enjoys a small glass of bitter ale. Then 
there is always afternoon coffee and milk cake. 

The tea consumed by the Royal household in England is 
always bought at a quaint, old-fashioned shop in Pall Mall, 
and has been bought there during' the reigns of Queen Vic- 
toria's, five predecessors. It costs five shillings and four- 
pence a pound, and was for a long while known as " Earl 
Grey's Mixture," this nobleman having recommended this 
particular mixture to Her Majesty. 

When a dinner is gi\^en at Windsor or Buckingham Palace, 
fish to the extent of $250 worth is ordered; but for an ordi- 
nary family dinner three kinds of fish are put on the table, 
whiting being almost invariably one of them. A sirloin of 
beef is cooked every day, and is put on the sideboard cold for 
luncheon. The Queen takes after her dinner one water bis- 
cuit and a piece of Cheddar cheese ; the Prince of Wales 
eats a bit of Gorgonzola with a crust of home-made bread. 
The tea, the cheese, and the royal bed are always taken along 
whenever the Queen travels. Her Majesty's wine, which is 
well known to be incomparable, is kept in the cellars of St. 



i I 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 43 

James's Palace, and is sent in baskets of three dozen to 
wherever she may be, this being done more for the household 
and guests than for herself, as when alone she drinks only- 
very weak whiskey and water with her meals, by her physi- 
cian's orders. At banquets, however, she takes two glasses 
of Burgundy. The clerk of the Royal kitchens, who always 
carves, receives $3,500 per annum, the head chef the same 
salary, and the confectioners $1,500 and $1,250. 

An allusion which I saw in a London letter, published by 
one of the New York newspapers, to Queen Victoria's fond- 
ness for a "nightcap," in shape of Auld Kirk whiskey and 
Apollinaris, reminds me of an incident which took place on 
one occasion on board the Royal yacht, " Victoria and Albert." 
The Queen and her ladies had settled themselves in what 
they considered to be a very sheltered place, protected by 
the paddle-box ! Suddenly, she observed a commotion among 
the sailors, little knots of men talking together, in a myste- 
rious manner. First one officer came up, then another, look- 
ing puzzled, and at length the Captain appeared. 

The Queen, whose curiosity had been aroused, asked what 
was the matter, and laughingly inquired of the Captain whe- 
ther there was going to be a mutiny on board. The Captain 
replied that he really did not know what would happen unless 
Her Majesty were graciously pleased to remove her seat. 

" Move my seat !" exclaimed the Queen. " Why should I ? 
What harm am I doing here ?" 

" Well, ma'am," said the Captain, "the fact is that Your 
Majesty is sitting up against the door of the place where the 
grog tubs are kept, and so the men cannot have their grog." 

"Oh! very well," smiled the Queen, "I will move on one 
condition — namely, that you bring me a glass of grog." 



44 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Frogmore, to which I alluded just now, when talking of the 
Queen's love for fruit, was the house in Windsor Park 
'which was formerly inhabited by the Queen's mother, the 
Duchess of Kent. In 1863 it was assigned to the Prince of 
Wales as a country residence at the time of hi*s marriage. It 
was there that his eldest son. Prince Eddie, was born, some- 
what unexpectedly, I may say, for the Princess of Wales had 
spent the afternoon of the day on which he made his appear- 
ance in the world skatingf and sleia-hin^ on Virc^inia Water. 
The child was born so quickly after return home that there 
was no time to summon either the doctors, the Cabinet Min- 
ister, who should have been in attendance, or even the nurse. 
It was Lady Macclesfield, the favorite lady-in-waiting of the 
Princess, who performed the duty of monthly nurse and sa£-e- 
femme for her Royal mistress, and who was the first to greet 
the tiny Prince on his arrival in this world. 

The Prince of Wales soon afterward gave up Frogmore, 
finding it too damp, dreary, and above all, too near his mother, 
the Queen, for the latter is exceedingly despotic with her chil- 
dren, exercising her authority over them not only as mother, 
but also as sovereign, and ordering them hither and thither, 
without any regard to their convenience, comfort, or inclina- 
tions. The Prince loves his independence, and therefore 
sees just as little of his respected mother as he can possibly 
contrive to do. One of his greatest annoyances when in her 
presence is that he cannot smoke. 

Queen Victoria, notwithstanding all that has been said to 
the contrary, has a very strong dislike to tobacco smoke, and 
smoking is strictly forbidden in all those parts of the Palace 
at Osborne, Windsor, or Balmoral which she frequents. 

Some time ago one of her Cabinet Ministers received a 



1 1 





a^^ 



f<K«*-^^-Vy-»» 



y 



Ck^yC^x-^ 




46 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

letter from her Private Secretary, General Sir Henry Pon- 
sonby, saying that Her Majesty begged that in future 
he would not send his dispatches saturated with tobacco 
smoke. 

The official in question turned the Royal snub onto a score 
of his colleagues, for he wrote to each in turn, saying that he 
had received a letter from the Queen, commanding that they 
should not smoke while writing their dispatches ! 

Her Majesty has, of late years, shown a tendency to ignore 
the claims and customs of Christmas. Before the Prince 
Consort died, in the days when the Queen's children were 
children indeed, Christmas created, literally, " a great stir " 
in the Royal house circle, for everybody had a hand in making 
the monster pudding that was subsequently to grace the 
Royal table, and great fun was invariably extracted out of 
the proceedings, but never did the mirth rise to such a pitch 
as on one memorable occasion when the Princess Beatrice, 
then the tiniest of toddlers, in reaching down into the recesses 
of the pan after a piece of candied peel, over-balanced her 
chubby little self, and tipped headforemost into the lithe 
mixture. 

She was rescued in a moment, but not before her fair, 
curly pate and face were a sticky mass of currants, raisins, 
peel, and spice. Perhaps the Royal family never enjoyed a 
heartier laugh together, and certainly Princess Beatrice never 
screamed so loudly ! 

It may possibly interest my lady readers to learn that all 
the washing of the Queen, the Princess of Wales, and, in 
fact, of the entire Royal family, is done at Richmond, where 
a laundry has been organized for the special behoof of the 
Royal households. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 47 

The wages there are exceedingly low, the employees being 
presumably satisfied for the paucity of their remuneration by 
the honor which they possess of washing the soiled linen ot 
Royalty. All the dresses and robes that Her Majesty 
the Queen has ever worn are kept stored and laid by in 
large cabinets at Windsor Castle. None are either sold 
or given away. The practice is a very old one with the 
British Royalty. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

GREAT BRITAIN. 
II. 

QUEEN VICTORIA devotes /io,ooo, or ^50,000, every 
year to entertainments at Buckingham. Palace. These 
consist of two State balls and two State Concerts, at 
each of which Her Majesty is represented by the Prince and 
Princess of Wales. The Queen limits the expense of the 
State balls to ^io,ooo each, while that of the State concerts 
is fixed at ^15,000. Under no circumstances are these figures 
permitted by the sovereign to be exceeded. 

Court trains are not worn by the ladies at these entertain- 
ments, while the men, unless they belong to the army or 
the navy, are forced to don white knee-breeches and white 
silk stockings, which are very trying to the appearance. 

The second category of the Queen's guests are those who 
attend her periodical afternoon receptions at Buckingham 
Palace, which are known by the name of " Drawing-rooms," 
and which are held for the express purpose of permitting 
'Ubutantes to be presented to the Royal family. 

The majority of American ladies who visit England for the 
first time appear to believe that presentation at the British 
Court carries with it the entree to London society, invitations 
to Court entertainments, and a personal acquaintance with 
the members of the Royal family. This is a great mistake, 
for there is so little exclusiveness displayed by the Lord 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 49 

Chamberlain's department, in restricting admission to the 
Queen's drawing-room, that the mere fact of presentation is 
absolutely without any social significance whatever. 

I may add the ventilation of the Palace is terribly defective, 
with the alternate intense heat and icy draughts most injurious 
to the health, and that the crush is intolerable. Everybody 
wants to c^ct ahead of everybody else, in order to get through 
the presentation and back to her carriage, for a Court pres- 
entation practically involves leaving one's house at noon, 
alighting at the Palace an hour later, after interminable waits, 
and standing upon one's feet thereafter, and amid an elbow- 
ing, pushing, somewhat selfish throng of women, in an at- 
mosphere laden with strong perfumes, which are a combi- 
nation of artificial scents, natural flowers, and cosmetics, until 
about four or five o'clock, when one finally re-enters the car- 
riage, crumpled, dispirited, faint from hunger and fatigue, 
and thoroughly disappointed. 

All this is undergone for the mere sake of spending about 
sixty seconds in the Throne-room, just the time required to 
walk from the door up to the spot where stands the Queen, 
or, as is more generally the case, one of the Princesses repre- 
senting her, to whom a low courtesy is made. The Royal 
lady utters no word of welcome or greeting, but merely 
acknowledges the salute by a slight inclination of the head, 
and then the presentee has to back out of the room with all 
possible speed. 

When the Court is at Windsor, invitations to the Casde 
are usually sent out by Sir John Cowell, but somedmes they 
come from the Lord Chamberlain, to whom the necessary 
instructions have been telegraphed from Windsor. Very 
short notice is o-iven, and an invitation has sometimes reached 

4 



5© WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

a guest on the afternoon of the day on which he was expected 
at the Castie. 

As a rule, the Queen's guests travel by the 6.30 train from 
Paddington, and on arriving at the visitors' entrance of the 
Castle they are received by the pages of the chamber, who 
always have a list of the people who are expected in their 
respective apartments. The company assemble in the corri- 
dor by half-past eight, everybody being in full dress, and 
those who have a rieht to wear the Windsor uniform are 
expected to array themselves in that hideous garb. The 
Queen enters at a quarter to nine with the members of the 
Royal family, and then the company at once go to dinner. 
The only personal intercourse between a guest and the 
hostess takes place after dinner in the corrider, when the 
Queen always converses for a few minutes with each visitor 
in succession ; and, after having gone round the circle, bows, 
and retires for the night. 

The Queen then goes to her own apartments, where she 
reads or writes, or listens to a reader for about an hour. 
Her Majesty occupies either her own sitting-room or the 
adjoining one, which was formerly Prince Albert's study. 

After the Queen has retired, the guests and the rest of 
the company adjourn to one of the drawing-rooms, of which 
there are three at Windsor, the Red, the White, and the 
Green, connected by doors covered with exquisite Chippen- 
dale carvings. These rooms are hung with portraits, and 
contain many cabinets which are virtually priceless. In the 
Green Drawing-Room is a Sevres dessert service vv^hich is 
valued at $250,000. 

It is a curious fact that Windsor Castle should be one of 
the only great palaces in Europe which is not supposed to be 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 5 1 

haunted, especially when it is borne in mind that it has been 
the residence of the most cruel and bloodthirsty of English 
Kings. Hampton Court is haunted, so is the Tower, the 
latter by an undoubted ghost which has been on the walk for 
centuries. Whitehall was haunted by the headless spectre 
of Charles I as long as there was anything to haunt there ; in 
Sr. James's Palace, Queen Caroline of Anspach, wife of 
Georcje II, wanders at nioht in the Throne room, utterine 
moans of deep distress, throwing her shadowy hands over 
her head in an attitude of entreaty. At the Hofburg or Im- 
perial Palace of Vienna, the dread spectre of " The White 
Lady " roams around every time a misfortune is about to 
overtake the reigning family. It was last seen on the eve of 
the Crown Prince Rudolph's tragical death. At the Imperial 
Palace of Berlin a gigantic street sweeper, carrying a ghostly- 
looking broom, appears a week before the death of any 
member of the Hohenzollern race. In the Winter Palace at 
St. Petersburg it is a beautiful lady clothed in snowy draperies 
and crowned with white roses, who is the death messenger 
of the Romanoffs ; while, according to tradition, a little man 
dressed in scarlet haunted the Tuileries until the day when 
the Republic was proclaimed in France and the torches of 
the Commune reduced the grand old pile' to ruin and ashes. 
The superb old Castle of Heidelberg is visited at midnight 
on the vigil of St, John by a whole procession of shadowy 
figures, dressed in the fashion prevailing under the reign of 
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and it is asserted that their 
advent is invariably heralded by strains of the sweetest and 
most enthralling music. 

Buckingham Palace is far from showy on the outside, and 
were It not for the red-coated sentinels w^ho unceasingly 



52 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

march up and down before the gates thereof, it would hardly 
give one the impression of being a Royal residence. The 
building has been considerably enlarged since it was first 
built, and is now used chiefly for drawing-rooms. State balls, 
and concerts, for the Queen seldom resides here for more 
than a few days at a time. 

The front of this ugly building gives no idea of the pleasant 
rooms situated at the back, and which overlook a large and 
beautiful garden, into which one steps through the French 
windows opening on to a green lawn, shaded all around by 
fine and well-grown trees, giving no indication in their luxuri- 
ant foliage of being in the midst of London. 

This verdant carpet leads to a crystal lake further on, 
where in quiet enjoyment broods of water-fowl and several 
swans live in contentment. 

The galleries, ball-room, and concert-room, which are 
reached from the staircase, are of great magnificence. Wall 
seats, draped in satin, are provided for the company assem- 
bling in these rooms for a ball, a concert, or any other Royal 
function, and at one end many handsome chairs are placed 
for the accommodation of Royalty, with, the Throne-room 
further on, where the Oueen receives her g-uests in state; 
and where many debutantes with palpitating hearts, as well as 
more familiar habitues, have made their courtesies. 

The whole house is splendidly kept — not a suspicion of 
dust or anything, which in London means a great deal. 

The deer-forest is the great sporting feature of the Queen's 
Highland country-seat at Balmoral, and it is now one of the 
best in Scotland, yielding from eighty to a hundred stags every 
season. Balmoral forest extends to about 10,000 acres ; but 
the Queen leases from Mr. H. M. Gordon the adjoining 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN, 53 

forests of Abergeldie and Whitemount, which give an addi- 
tional 7,500 acres. The latter forest contains the celebrated 
Corrie Bin, which is the favorite feeding-ground of the red 
deer, and fine sport is always obtained. In 1874 the Queen 
enlarged her estate by purchasing from the late Colonel Far- 
quharson, of Ivercauld, the magnificent forest of Ballochbuie, 
extending to 10,000 acres, which "marches" with the Balmo- 
ral orround. 

The scenery is very grand in all parts of the Queen's 
forest, and, owing to the excellent configuration of the ground, 
three rifles may be out at the same time without interfering 
with each other's sport in any way. There is quite a net- 
work of bridle-paths in all directions, so that every part of 
the forest is easily reached. Prince Albert was a keen deer- 
stalker, and a fine shot. In Balmoral forest, on the Meikle 
Pass, the Queen has erected a cairn to mark the spot where 
the Prince shot his last stag, which was in October, 1861, on 
the day before he left Balmoral forever. 

Next to the royal deer-forests, the principal sporting 
feature of the Balmoral domain is the salmon-fishing in the 
Dee. The Queen has a stretch of fourteen miles, including 
both banks of the river, and beginning at Invercauld Bridge. 
These waters yield splendid sport during the spring months, 
and the pools are easy to fish, eight of the casts being among 
the best in the Dee. There is very good trout-fishing in 
some of the lochs on the Royal estate, which were originally 
stocked with trout by Prince Albert. 

Considering the fondness for horses that seems to be in- 
born in every American, it is strange that so few of the trans- 
Atlantic tourists should avail themselves of the opportunity 
of inspecting the Royal and Imperial stables of Europe. 



54 WITHIN ROYAL IPALACES. 

This is a mistake, for horses constitute one of the pet 
luxuries of Kings and Emperors ; and the cream-colored 
horses of Queen Victoria, the " Orloffs " of the Czar, the 
" Trakeners " of Emperor Francis-Joseph, and the " Meck- 
lenburgers" of Emperor William are each in their way 
matchless. 

Queen Victoria's cream-hued horses reside in the stables, 
or Royal mews adjoining Buckingham Palace. The first 
teams of cream-colored horses were brought from Hanover 
by King George I, and until Queen Victoria's accession to 
the Throne their successors were supplied from the celebra- 
ted breeding-stud at the city of Hanover. When, however, 
in the year 1837, Qiieen Victoria ascended the Throne, and 
the Crown of Hanover passed to Her Majesty's uncle, 
Duke Ernest of Cumberland, the Royal cream-colored horses 
ceased to be imported and were bred in England. The 
" Sacred Hanoverians," as the cream-colored are called, are 
very rarely seen by the public at large, save when taken out 
very early in the morning for an ainng on the Vauxhall 
Bridge Road. They do no work except on State occasions 
and remain ever untampered with. They are very showy, 
dignified animals, conscious of their own importance, and look 
down on the bays, blacks, or roans in the Royal stables with 
evident pity and contempt. 

Napoleon I was the cause of the cream-colored horses 
being abandoned on State occasions iby British Royalty for 
black ones during the last great war between France and 
England. In 1803 Hanover was seized and occupied by the 
troops of Napoleon, and the French Emperor, who hated 
King George III, and who, besides all his genius and bril- 
liant qualities, had an invincible propensity for appropriating 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 55 

what pleased him most amo.ng other people's goods and 
chattels, stole the Elector of Hanover's cream-colored stud, 
to spite the King of England. Adding insult to injury, the 
Emperor had actually the audacity to have eight cream- 
colored horses harnessed to the p-or^eous and much-orilded 
State carriage in which he and Empress Josephine were 
drawn to Notre Dame to be crowned. This was too much 
for the infuriated English King, and in a paroxysm of rage 
he ordered the cream-hued stud at the mews in London to 
be discarded in favor of black ones. This state of affairs 
continued antil the downfall of Napoleon in 1814, at which 
period the British monarch claimed from the French Govern- 
ment the cream-colored stud stolen by Napoleon in 1803, 
but every horse of that tint had mysteriously disappeared 
from France, and to this day it remains impossible to dis- 
cover what became of them. 

The State carriages which are also kept in Buckingham 
Palace ought to be scarcely less attractive to American vis- 
itors than the historical " cream-colored " above mentioned. 
The "gilded ark " in which Queen Victoria rode to her coro- 
nation has a very noteworthy history of its own, and certainly 
is a most remarkable-looking object. It was built in 1761. 
It is seventeen feet long, weighs four tons, and the figures of 
the four Tritons supporting the traces are of exquisite Italian 
workmanship. The panels are beautifully painted, and it is 
surmounted by a golden Royal Crown. 

The majority of the other carriages in the Royal coach- 
houses convey the impression of being built on altogether too 
heavy lines, and in fact of lacking modern grace ; but, of 
course, they are exceedingly stately and some of them ex- 
tremely gorgeous in their appointments. They all, however, 



56 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



look as if they had been specially constructed for traction by 
the huge " Clevelands," which, until a few years ago, were 
the only horses used by Royalty in London, 

Within a stone's throw of the mews is the Royal Riding 
School, standing in the superb garden at the back of Buck- 
ingham Palace. Itis there that all the Queen's childreo were 




AUDIENCE CHAMBER AT WINDSOR CASTLE. 



taught riding by a riding-master of the name of Meyer, whom 
Prince Albert had imported for the purpose from Darmstadt. 
It is to his instruction that must be attributed the thoroughly 
German seat of the Prince of Wales and of his brothers in 
the saddle. Indeed, it is only the Queen's grandchildren who 
ride with the incomparably superior English seat. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 57 

The Stables are under the control of the " Master of the 
Horse " — one of the grand officers of the household — who at 
the present time is the Duke of Pordand. He changes with 
the Ministry. His deputy and the permanent superintendent 
is Colonel Sir Charles Maude, who bears the title of Crown 
Equerry. 

For her own personal use at Windsor and in other places 
in the country the Queen invariably makes use of a four- 
seated barouche, with a rumble behind for servants in attend- 
ance, and drawn by four invariably gray horses, less than 
sixteen hands high, and ridden by 'two postillions in very 
sober liveries. Ordinarily their jackets are black. The car- 
riage is preceded by a single outrider, and on each side 
canter two equerries on duty. These equerries, who are 
colonels or generals in the army, belong to the department 
of the Master of the Horse. 

The latter has numerous peculiar privileges, one of which 
is the use of the Royal liveries during his term of office, and 
the second is his right on all State occasions to a seat in the 
Queen's own carriage. 

The Prince of Wales stables are at Sandringham, where 
His Royal Highness goes in extensively for breeding hack- 
neys and cart horses. During the summer his hunting stud 
is sent down to Windsor for grazing in the Home Park. His 
stables cost him ^80,000 a year. This, of course, does not 
include the cost of his racing stud. 

The Queen's fox and buck-hounds are magnificently kept 
and trained animals. The historical associations of the 
Royal pack go back to times beyond the research of consci- 
entious modern historians, as there were kennels at Swinley 
before Henry VIII ascended the throne ; and it is alleged by 




Duke of Norfolk, K. G. 

Premier Peer of Great Britain and Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



59 



Robert Huish that for at least four centuries wild stags and 
hinds were hunted by English monarchs. Every one who is 
an habitue of the meets of the buck-hounds at Uxbridge 
Common or Ruislip Town End, or a dozen other trysts, must 
have heard of the famous run of Charles II's reign from 
Ascot after a warrantable stag, which was not caught until 
night had fallen, the eager hounds, with their bristles erect. 







■t 






MR 




BB^^^^^^HH* v v-s.- . •- J' . > ' .. 1 






^hbF^t^BBiIiH 


^^^^^H 




^^Er^' '' 







A !• OX-HUNT— TH1-, ^lART. 



running into their prey at a remote point in Essex, more than 
seventy-five miles distant from the spot where they found 
him. 

It has long been customary in autumn for the huntsmen of 
the Royal Buck-hounds, assisted by Her Majesty's chief game- 
keeper, and many other employees, to select from the herd in 
Windsor Great Park the red deer intended to be uncarted in 
the ensuing winter before four or five-and-twenty couples ot 



6o 



Within roVal palaces. 



the best fox-hounds that Belvoir, Badminton, and other famous 
private kennels can supply. The usual place of deer capture 
is a grassy paddock below Cranbourne town — a sheltered 
spot, belted with primeval oaks and colossal beeches. The 
driving of these selected quarries — all of which have names 
bestowed upon them, with a view to their becoming as popu- 
lar as " Harkaway," or " Lord Charles," or " Savernake," or 





A FOX-HUNT — THE FINISH. 



" Coningsby," excites the greatest interest and curiosity, 
and is generally witnessed by a small party of invited 
ladies and gentlemen, whose names are well known at the 
meets over which Her Majesty's huntsmen are wont to pre- 
side. Both the Prince of Wales and Prince Georo-e are 
passionately fond of fox-hunting, and so likewise was the late 
Duke of Clarence, who was also an excellent polo-player. 
During his last stay with his regiment at York the Duke 



62 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

was in the habit of devoting several hours a day to this, on<^. 
of his favorite pastimes. 

A large number of cats are kept about the mews, one of 
which, called "Jack," is supposed to be the State 0.2.1 par ex- 
cellence. He is a magnificent Persian, of an extremely aris- 
tocratic nature, as he refuses to acknowledge a helper or 
liveryman, or, in fact, any one beneath the dignity of the State 
coachman. It was noticed, however, on the occasion of the 
visit paid by the Prince of Naples to the stables, that " Jack " 
at once recognized the presence of Royalty, and immediately 
paid his grateful respects to the Prince. 

Formerly there used to be a number of what might be 
called "performing" cats kept about the mews, and these, on 
the occasion of Her Majesty's visits, were always made to go 
through their performances, one of which consisted in their 
jumping from the back of a horse on to the stall-post, and so 
on throusfhout the whole ten-stall stables. 

The Jubilee landau is so named as it was used by Her 
Majesty on the occasion of her jubilee. 

It is a posting landau, driven by postillions, and is drawn 
by six of the cream-colored horses. Like the other carriages 
it is colored, lake and vermillion, picked out with gold, and is 
also decorated on either side with the Royal Arms. The 
wheels are red and gold with springs. This landau has been 
all over the country when the Queen has laid foundation 
stones or opened exhibitions. In addition to these carriages, 
there are no less than seventy carriages of all kinds for pri- 
vate use, such as when the Queen pays a visit to the Prince 
of Wales at Marlborough House. These are driven by pos- 
tillions with four horses, and plain liveries are worn. The 
Queen's coachman is Mr. Miller, who was strongly recom- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 65 

mended by Lord Bridport. Mr. Miller's special duty, in the 
early days of his employment, was to look after the thirty- 
five saddle-horses then kept for the use of the Royal family 
for riding. It is the maxim of the Royal Mews that every 
horse should be treated with kindness as well as firmness. 

The young ones are brought up to look upon the stable- 
men as their friends ; the result is that while they retain 
their spirited nature, at the same time they acquire wonderful 
docility. No bearing reins of any degree of tightness are 
used in connection with the Buckingham Palace stables. It 
is interesting, in visiting the State horses in company with Mr. 
Miller, to see how every one of the horses seem to know 
and like him. Immediately he enters the stables they seem 
to perceive he is there, and they turn their heads, as if asking 
for some recognition. One important point in training the 
State horses consists in makinor them accustomed to the 
sound of the drums and bands. It is the practice at the mews 
for the children belonoinor to the various stable officials to be 
sent into the stables frequently with their tiny drums ; and in 
order that the horses may get accustomed to the bands, Mr. 
Miller says that whenever he meets a band while he is exer- 
cising the horse, he makes it a point of always following it 
closely. 

In the Royal kennels, the Queen's pets are Pomeranian 
dogs which would not only win the hearts of any dog-lover 
for their beauty, but who have also earned the exacting ad- 
miration of the judges. These dogs belong to the Eskimo 
type of the canine species. They have a long, thick coat that 
seems to stand out from the body, a tail which curls tighdy 
and lies close to the back, a foxy head, small, erect ears, 
rather short legs, short back, and a generally square and 



64 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

thick-set appearance, in spite of which, however, they are ac- 
tive as kittens. Her Majesty's pets are not Pomeranians in 
the ordinary acceptance of the term, being rather ItaHan 
Spitz dogs. They came from Florence, where they were 
purchased in 1888. The Queen always names the dogs her- 
self. 

Collies have always been a breed for which Her Majesty 
has also shown a preference, and this accounts for their num- 
ber in the Royal kennels. The majority of them are black- 
white-and-tan. 



1 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

GREAT BRITAIN. 
III. 

ALTHOUGH it would be considered as rank treason in 
England to question in the slightest degree the repu- 
tation for good taste, chic, and elegance in dress enjoyed by 
the Princess of Wales, yet the fact remains that it is altogether 
and entirely undeserved. The merit of telling the fashion 
for the fair sex in Great Britain belongs not, as is generally 
supposed, to her, but to her husband, the Prince. 

The latter's taste, formed as it has been by his intercourse 
with the Comtess de Pourtales, the Marquise de Galliffet, the 
Marquise de Castellane, and others of the most famous 
grande mondaines at Paris, is above reproach. It is he 
who, amid his other multifarious occupations, finds time to 
personally supervise every detail of the Princess's toilets, and 
no innovation of dress or coiffure is ever inaugurated by Her 
Royal Highness which has not previously been submitted to 
the approval and received the sanction of the Prince. 

The only occasion when she was permitted to follow her 
own ideas with regard to dress was while her husband was 
in India, and the result was simply appalling, for by birth and 
education she is thoroughly German,. and her personal taste 
with regard to dress is likewise German. 

Until she married she was entirely ignorant of all the 
delicate elegances of the " toilette intime " of a Parisienne. 
For a time she had her own way with regard to the dress of 
5 65 



66 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

her three daughters, and in consequence, although they are 
nice and pretty girls, they appeared the most dowdy and inele- 
gant young ladies in the whole of the United Kingdom. It 
has only been since the Prince was induced to interfere in 
their behalf that they have been dressed with any degree of 
chic. The most recent instance, however, of the Princess's 
somewhat commonplace, and what would be described in 
London as Bloomsbury tastes, is her craze for photographing 
on china. 

The Court Journals gravely announced a little over a year 
ago that she had completed the entire tea service adorned 
with the portraits of her family. 

One can imagine, therefore, the feelings of the Prince 
gazing on his wife's breakfast table decked with this photo- 
graph-stained porcelain, when he saw a deep golden stream 
of tea running down the cheek of his revered mother's face 
on the teapot while helping himself to milk from a milk jug 
adorned with the features of his son, and subsequently rinsing 
his cup in a slop-basin decorated with a group of his family 
taken in front of the library window at Sandringham. 

The Princess, who, besides being a pianist of rare talent, 
plays exquisitely on that most difficult of all instruments, the 
zither, has now turned her attention to the sweet-toned philo- 
mele, a stringed instrument very much in shape like a violin, 
but much more comfortably handled. Not only the Princess 
herself and her daughters, but also her sisters-in-law are 
taking lessons, and Princess Louise, Marchioness of Lome, 
is particularly distinguishing herself on this queer-shaped 
instrument. , 

A pretty story is told about the Princess. The scene of it was j 
the Mansion House, the occasion was a ball that was given 




The Princess of Wales. 



68 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

some years ago, and to which, among other " invites," was a 
provincial Mayor, who had the honor of being introduced to the 
pretty Princess. The tale goes, and the truth of it is vouched 
for, that upon his Worship asking, against all rules of " eti- 
quette," the Princess to grant him a dance, she replied with 
a touch of delicate humor : " I do not know whether you will 
not be rather afraid ; some of my children are only just 
recovering from the measles, and you might take them." 
The wearer of the civic chain, however, was equal to the 
occasion, for, bowing low, he replied : '* I should be delighted 
to take anything from so charming a source." 

Those employed about the Court and thus brought per- 
sonally into contact with the different members of the Royal 
family, speak somewhat strongly about the different manners 
in which the offspring of the various princes and princesses 
are being trained up, or, to put it in the homely vernacular of 
the domestics themselves, " taught to behave." The children 
of the Princess of Wales have won golden opinions in all 
directions during their years of pupilage. Her sons, when 
quite little fellows, used to be allowed to join in the games 
of some of the Windsor lodge-keepers' children, and would 
amuse themselves for many a long morning swinging and 
being swung by their lowlier playmates, with hearty enjoy- 
ment that never degenerated into boisterous or unruly pro- 
ceedino-s. 

When the Princess was complimented on their pretty 
behavior, she remarked that it was her especial object to 
teach courtesy and good feeling. The Duchess of Albany 
has now the same charming repute for inciting her little ones 
to speak politely to their attendants and to treat all classes 
alike with gentle consideration. When taking her mornins; 



THE ROYAI FAMILY OF GREAT BRiTAm. 69 

walks with her tiny daughter, if the Duchess chance to meet 
a orardener or laborer in the grounds, she is at once heard 
saying to the little Princess : " Now don't forget to say ' Good 
morning,' darling." But the Duchess of Connaught, excel- 
lent woman though she is, has educated her offspring on an 
entirely opposite system ; and rich stories are told of the 
magniloquence and exacting demeanor of these young people. 
One of them was heard to impart to his father, with dire 
indignation : " Papa, I passed by the sentry in the grounds 
this morning and he did not salute me." " I dare say, my 
dear," placidly replied the good-natured Duke of Connaught. 
" But, papa, won't you have him put into the guardroom for 
such a piece of neglect ?" This, however, the Duke declined 
to do, to the exceeding diso^ust of his offended son. 

Strange indeed is the blight that appears to rest upon the 
first-born sons of the Imperial and Royal families of Europe. 
The list of Princes holding the position either of Heir Appa- 
rent or Heir Presumptive to the Throne of the old world, 
who have been overtaken by premature death is one of 
considerable length, and includes the names of the Crown 
Prince of Austria, of the Duke of Brabant, and Prince Bald- 
win, of Flanders, of the Prince of Orange, the Czarowitz 
Nicolas Alexandrowitz, the Duke of Orleans, the Prince 
Imperial of France, besides those of many others, including 
the name of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and 
Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, 
The ultimate demise of the young Prince on the eve of his 
marriage constituted the partial fulfillment of a popular 
superstition current in England, according to which Queen 
Victoria is destined to outlive both the Prince of Wales 
and the Duke of Clarence, and to be succeeded on the 



^O WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Throne of Great Britain by a King bearing the name of 
George V. 

Possibly it was just the knowledge of this widespread 
belief, coupled with the dread of witnessing the realization 
of the public premonition on the subject, that caused both the 
Prince and Princess of Wales, to regard their eldest boy with 
sentiments of more than ordinary parental affection. Delicate 
from the very moment of his premature birth at Frogmore, 
he was always a source of particular care and of considerable 
anxiety to his parents. The Prince of Wales himself gave 
public expression to a feeling of this kind in 1879, in an 
address which he delivered on the eve of the dep£.rture of his 
two bovs for their first cruise as naval cadets on board the 
" Bacchante." His Royal Highness declared on that occasion 
that he thought so much of the navy, and had received so 
much kindness from that branch of the Queen's service in 
different parts of the world, and that he had at first intended 
to make sailors of both his boys. But he feared that the 
delicate state of his eldest son's health precluded the hope. 
Still, he trusted that his second son, George, who was sturdy, 
would carry out the traditions of the service, and make a good 
sailor. 

Fortunately, the seafaring life on board the " Bacchante " 
proved beneficial to Prince Eddie's constitution, and when, 
four years later, he took up his residence at Trinity College, 
Cambridge, after having sailed round the world, and visited 
every portion of the vast British Empire, it was believed that 
he had in a great measure outgrown his delicacy of health. 

At the University, Prince Edward displayed the same ami- 
able characteristics which had endeared him to all those with 
whom he had been brought into contact during his life on 




Duke op- Clarknce and Avondale. 



72 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

board the " Bacchante." And it must be borne in mind that 
qualities of no ordinary kind are requisite to win and retain the 
regard of one's associates in a position such as that occupied 
by the Duke-Prince. .Young England is essentially demo- 
cratic, and reverence for rank must be regarded as being 
one of quality that is conspicuously absent from its constitution. 
It is therefore necessary for the Prince, both on board ship and 
at college, as well as subsequently in regimental barracks, to 
steer midway between hauteur and that familiarity which is 
apt to degenerate into contempt. This he succeeded in doing 
remarkably well, and in such a manner as to win golden opin- 
ions from all with whom he was brought into contact, display- 
inof in the matter much of that grenial tact and considerate 
forethought which renders his father, the Prince of Wales, so 
deservedly popular. 

Nothinor could be more touchinof than to watch him with his 
mother, to whom he bore much moral and physical resem- 
blance. She held, at any rate until the date of his betrothal 
to the pretty and winsome Princess May of Teck, always the 
toremost place in his thought and in his conversation. He 
surrounded her with the most loving attentions, and it was in 
her society almost alone that he appeared to lose that diffi- 
dence which was not one of the least attractive phases of his 
nature. He seemed to realize that she understood and appre- 
ciated him more fully than any one else, and that she at least 
would never be guilty of attributing to lack of intellectual 
brilliancy a silence that was ascribable in the main to an 
unusually modest and retiring disposition. 

Not that this timidity of manner ever extended to the 
length of in any way affecting his personal courage and 
pluck. That was beyond reproach, and manifested especially 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 73 

on one occasion in the saddle as a steeple-chase rider over 
an exceedingly stiff course at York. He rode his own horse, 
Skraptoft. There were numerous bad falls. But the Duke 
was more fortunate than his companions, and went over 
hedges, ditches, and walls in fine style, and without a single 
spill. He presented an amusing contrast to the other riders ; 
for while they, every one of them, manifested intense anima- 
tion and excitement, he retained an absolutely impassive 
demeanor from the start to the finish. His color never varied, 
and so imperturbable was his gravity that one might have 
been led from the aspect of his features to believe instead of 
riding a spirited and difficult horse in a steeple-chase, he was 
seated at dinner with the Archbishop of York. 

It may interest the young clubmen in this country to know 
that the late Duke of Clarence received an annual allowance 
of ^50,000 from his father. In addition to this, the Duke had 
his pay as a Major of the loth Hussars, amounting to fifteen 
shillings a day, with the usual allowance for forage. Not that 
the regiment pay can be considered as having been of any 
great help, for it did not even suffice to cover his mess-bill. 
These mess expenses consisted of 50 cents a day for his 
breakfast, half a crown, or 65 cents, for luncheon, ^i for 
dinner, and ^2 for wine at the same, besides incidental " pegs " 
and bottles of bitter beer throughout the day. 

From this it will be seen that an officer in the British army 
requires a considerable private income in addition to his 
scanty pay in order to make both ends meet. Nor did Prince 
Eddie's ^50,000 a year go very far, for, as a Prince of the 
blood, he was expected to subscribe to all kinds of charities ; 
to keep a first-rate stable, as well as steeple-chasers to run in 
the military handicaps, and to pay the salaries of at least a 



74 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES, 

couple of gentlemen in waiting. This naturally ran away 
with most of the money, and it is greatly to the credit of the 
late Duke that he never exceeded his allowance, and died 
without leaving any debts behind him. 

His surviving brother, the Duke of York, w^ho up to the 
date of his brother's demise had to content himself with an 
annual allowance of ^25,000, now receives ^75,000. notwith- 
standing which he is frequently in debt, being far more 
inclined to extravagance in money matters than Prince 
Eddie. 

Until the death of her Royal lover, H. S. H. Princess 
Victoria Mary of Teck was like that nation which was declared 
to be exceptionally happy because it had no history. She was 
born some twenty-four years ago, at Kensington Palace, and 
is the eldest child and only daughter of His Royal Highness 
the Duke of Teck, and Her Royal Highness Princess Mary 
of Cambridge, the Queen's first cousin, and most popular 
member of the English Royal family. Even when quite a 
little girl, " Princess Polly with the golden hair" was much 
beloved by the British public, who had first seen her, a pretty, 
rosy-cheeked maiden of five, leaning over the balcony of 
Cambridge House, watching the glittering pageant of the 
Coronation pass slowl}^ along Piccadilly on its way to West- 
minster Abbey. 

The Duchess of Teck and her daughter have their own 
sitting-room in the wing once occupied by the Prince of 
Wales some thirty years ago, when he v^/'as first allowed by 
his parents the dignity of a bachelor establishment. 

The business-room and boudoir combined show clearly how 
Princess May and her mother spend their time. The list of 
their good and practicable charitable works cannot be given 




The Duke of Clarence and Avondale, and Princess Victoria May of Teck. 



76 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

here ; suffice it to say that both the Duchess and her daugh- 
ter take the keenest interest in all sorts of good works. 

Princess May has a plainly-furnished sitting-room of her 
own, close to the little study used by her three brothers 
when they happen to be at home. There she now sits for 
hours together gazing listlessly through the large window at 
the beautiful landscape beyond. Since the Duke of 
Clarence's death, the once so gay and joyous Princess has 
become an entirely different being. She looks as if she were 
yet stunned by the blow which she sustained, her sunny smile 
has disappeared, and her light-hearted merry laugh is never 
heard echoing as of yore through the halls and passages of 
the White Lodge. 

A poetical figure, draped in the sculptural folds of a sable 
crape gown, a pale, delicate face lighted by inexpressibly sad 
and wistful eyes, a step out of which all vigor and buoyancy 
have disappeared, and a voice now low and subdued as had 
the silvery ring of youth died out of it, this is what remains 
of the happy young Princess whom the Duke of Clarence 
used to call "his jolly little May-blossom." 

The Duke and Duchess of Teck are generally considered 
as the ne'er-do-wells of the Royal family. The Duchess, it 
is true, has retained much of her former popularity among 
the masses, but by both Court and the smart set of London, 
the Duke and herself are treated very much in the manner 
of poor relations. To such an extent do these sentiments 
prevail that the Marquis of Bath, one of the haughtiest of 
British Peers, declined to permit his eldest son to marry pretty 
Princess May, to whom he had become engaged, and that the 
Queen herself never lost an opportunity of displaying the 
most marked unfriendliness and coldness toward the entire 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 77 

family until she was made to consent to her grandson's en- 
gagement to the Princess. 

This aversion of the Queen and Duchess dates back to the 
time when both were young girls together, and when the 
popularity and striking beauty of the daughter of the old 
Duke of Cambridge contrasted glaringly with the unpopu- 
larity of the Duke of Kent's daughter. For the latter, before 
her accession to the Throne, was by no means liked by either 
the classes or the masses. Indeed, the recent attacks of the 
English press on the Prince of Wales, in connection with the 
Baccarat case, appear as milk and water when compared 
with the bitter and even brutal insults hurled in those days 
by platform, pamphlet, and press at the head of the young 
Queen. 

Although the great beauty of Princess Mary of Cam- 
bridge brought her many suitors, both from home and from 
abroad, and notwithstanding the fact that her hand was 
sought by at least three reigning sovereigns, yet the Queen 
as chief of the family, made a point, for reasons which can 
only be attributed to personal jealousy, of declining to sanc- 
tion alliances proffered to her cousin. 

At length, when over forty, Princess Mary revolted against 
the tyranny to which she had so been subjected, and announced 
her intention of marrying with or without the Queen's per- 
mission a handsome young officer of the Austrian army who 
had struck her fancy. 

The officer in question, many years the Princess's junior, was 
the penniless Prince of Teck, who has since been advanced to 
the rank of German Duke. He is the morganatic issue of a 
left-hand marriage between a Prince of a reigning House of 
Wurtemburg and a Countess Rheday. His birth and status 



yS WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

were scarcely of a character to render him a desirable match 
for an EngHsh Royal Princess, but " Fat Mary " was deter- 
mined — not to say desperate — and the marriage took place 
at Kew, near London. 

Unfortunately the Duke, although a charming and amiable 
fellow, with the good and bad points of a typical Austrian 
cavalry officer, possessed a very susceptible heart and 
afforded many opportunities to his wife's English relatives to 
rail against him. On one memorable occasion he actually 
eloped with the pretty governess of his children to the Conti- 
nent and had to be brought back from Vienna by his 
brother-in-law, the Duke of Cambridge, who was sent off 
after him in hot pursuit. Nor was this the only incident of 
the kind, and " keeping brother-in-law Frank straight " has 
taken up almost as much of the Duke of Cambridge's time as 
his duties of Commander-in-Chief of the British Army. 

Another reproach to which the Duke and Duchess of Teck 
laid themselves open was that of extra vasfance. Although 
provided with a town residence at Kensington Palace, in 
Hyde Park, and a suburban home at "White Lodge in Rich- 
mond Park, they lived beyond their means, and about eight 
years ago there was a most disgraceful smash-up. Neither 
the Queen nor any other members of the Royal family con- 
sented to come to their assistance, and the consequence was 
that London was treated to the extraordinary and very yf;^ 
(^e siecle spectacle of a Royal household being sold out at 
public auction for the benefit of the confiding tradesmen who, 
unmindful of the Psalmist, had put their "trust in Princes." 

The auction actually took place at the historical palace of 
Kensington, where the Queen was born, and innumerable 
heirlooms and relics, which for very decency's sake should 




Prince George of Wales. 



8o WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

have been retained in the Royal family, were disposed of to 
the public. 

The Queen, byway of punishing the Tecks for this scandal, 
which she could easily have prevented — for the indebtedness 
was not so very great — deprived her cousins of their apart- 
ments at Kensington Palace, and insisted that they should 
reside abroad for several years. It was not, indeed, until the 
death of the Duchess of Teck's mother, the nonogenarian 
Duchess of Cambridge, that the Queen relented and allowed 
them once more to reside in England, though no longer at 
Kensington Palace. 

The late Duke of Clarence's younger brother George, who 
stepped into the vacant place as Heir Presumptive to the 
British Crown, bears a striking likeness to the Princess of 
Wales's sister, the Princess Dagmar, present Empress of 
Russia, not only in the general form and cast of countenance, 
but also in detail of feature and expression. 

For the first eighteen years of his life he was the insepa- 
rable companion of his brother ; and probably there have 
rarely if ever been two brothers that were more attached to 
each other than these two. Each seemed to find in the other 
the complement of his own individual characteristics. The 
quick liveliness of Prince George acted as a constant and 
welcome stimulus both in work and play hours to the more 
lymphatic temperament of his brother, while the brother's 
quiet staidness often served as a counterpoise to the younger's 
impulsive decisiveness. Were they following the hounds 
together as boys, it was Prince George whose pony had to 
cake the fence or hedge the first, and give Prince Eddy the 
lead ; were they bathing together in the sea, it was Prince 
George who was the first to leap off the ship or yacht into the 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 8 1 

water, and not till he was swimming around and encouraging 
his brother to follow him did the elder take the inevitable 
plunge. In many ways the elder constandy leant upon the 
younger brother ; and the younger reciprocated the confidence 
with warm-hearted manliness and devotion. 

Prince George is full of vivacity, spirit, and go ; he has 
always been regarded from childhood as the enfafii terrible 
of the Royal family, and innumerable are the stories related 
of his wicked practical jokes and everlasting scrapes. The 
mere mention of his name in Enoland is sufficient to cause 
the features of John Bull to relax, and to develop into a broad 
grin. He is as noted for his facility of getting into mischief 
as his eldest brother is for keeping out of it ; and it is pos- 
sibly this which has endowed him with a popularity among 
the masses that was withheld from the Duke of Clarence 
until the last few weeks previous to his death. 

Moreover, England being essentially a maritime power, 
sailors hold a strong place in the regard and affections of 
their countrymen, who are ready to extend to seafaring men 
an indulgence withheld from every other profession. This, too, 
is no doubt accountable for much of the public favor accorded 
to Prince George. The latter has now, however, been forced 
to give up all further active service in the navy, and to settle 
down on dry land. His life has become doubly precious to 
his family, as well as to the nation. Aside from the question 
of love and affection there are erave considerations of a 
dynastic and political nature which render it imperative that 
he should be prevented from incurring any risk, at any rate 
until he has married and provided one or two heirs to the 
Crown. For were he to die unmarried, it would be his 
sister, the Duchess of Fife, who would assume his place in 
6 



8? WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

the line of succession to the Crown, and the British people 
would be brought within a measurable distance of seeinor a 
Commoner, in the person of the Duchess of Fife's little 
daughter, Miss Alexandra Duff, styled Lady Alexandra 
merely by courtesy, seated on the Throne of England. Were 
this ever to occur, the very foundations of the monarchy 
would be shaken, for the prestige attached to Royal blood 
and Royal birth, which forms the chief basis of the monarch- 
ical system in England, would become a thing of the past. 

If the Duke of York ever comes to the Throne of England, 
his subjects will, at least, have the satisfaction of knowing that 
he has a practical knowledge, to his cost, I may add, of the 
meaning of the good old-fashioned word spanking. 

When serving as midshipman he declined one night to turn 
out, as he should have done, to go on watch. His fellow 
middy, whom he w^as designated to relieve, and who wanted 
to turn in, endeavored to arouse the Prince. 

The latter, after receiving two or three good shakings, sud- 
denly opened his eyes, swore a big oath, and let drive his fist 
at his fellow middy's right eye. The young fellow made no 
response, but returned to his post, resumed his watch, and 
thus did duty for the Prince. 

But on the following day he stated his case and showed his 
eye to his comrades. The midshipmen held a drum-head 
court-martial, found the Prince guilty, and sentenced him to 
be spanked by the lad whose eye he had blackened. 

Accordingly, the Royal culprit was seized by four of the seni- 
ors and held face downward on a table, while the midshipman 
with the disfigured optic, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, 
carried out the sentence of the midshipmen's court until his?; 
hands smarted. 




SiGNOR TOSTI. 
Queen Victoria's Favorite Singer and Musician. 



84 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

When the Prince was released he was furious with rage, 
and threatened vengeance, but in a day or two he thought 
better of it, and went to his messmate who had spanked him 
and apologized for the blow which he had given him. 

The midshipman accepted his apology, and tendered his 
own in return for the spanking which he had administered. 

During the remainder of the cruise, the Prince put on no 
airs, but he was as agreeable and charming a young fellow as 
could be. There is no doubt that he was benefited by the 
spanking. 

The death of the Duke of Clarence drew public attention 
to the direct and collateral line of succession to the Royal 
Crown of Great Britain and the Imperial Crown of India. 

The Crown of England descends like a barony in fee, to 
the nearest heir of the last wearer, be that heir male or 
female — daughters being, of course, postponed to sons. Were 
Prince George of Wales to die unmarried, the Crown would 
pass to the Duchess of Fife, and afterward descend to her, 
at present infant daughter, the Lady Alexandra Duff, always 
supposing that a son was not born to her in the meantime. 
In that place the son would naturally take precedence. We 
might then (and the possibility is by no means remote) wit- 
ness the curious sight of a Marquis of Macduff stepping direct 
from the Guards, or the benches of the House of Commons, 
to the Throne. 

In that case, the junior partner in the great London Bank- 
ing house of Scott & Co. would find himself in a position even 
more anomalous than that of the late Prince Albert — a posi- 
tion, in fact, to find a parallel for which it is necessary to go 
back to the days of Mary Queen of Scots and the Earl of 
Darnley. 



THE Royal family of great BRtTAtN. 85 

The Duke of Fife who, besides his income derived from his 
partnership in the banks, and from his directorships in various 
railroads and industrial enterprises, enjoys the revenues of a 
vast estate of some three hundred thousand acres, is one of 
those fortunate men who, in high favor at Court, and blessed 
munificently with rank, wealth, and talents of every kind, has 
succeeded in achieving an immense popularity with all classes 
of the people. He has never been known to do a mean, 
unchivalrous or in any way questionable action, and while by 
no means a saint by nature, and exposed to every kind of 
temptation, his priv^ate life has hitherto been without 
reproach. 

Of Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife, and possibly Queen 
of Great Britain and Ireland, there is but litde to say. She 
has been most carefully trained, and brought up in the very 
simplest manner by her mother, the Princess of Wales. 
While neither so graceful nor so captivating as her mother, 
the young Princess is much liked by all those who know her, 
her behavior being singularly simple, natural, and unaffected. 
Many of the hats and dresses worn during the past years by 
her two sisters and herself have been made entirely with 
their own hands. 

Little Lady Alexandra Victoria Duff, the infant daughter 
of the Duke and Duchess of Fife, who was held at the font 
on the occasion of her christening by no less a personage 
than her great-grandmother, the Queen of Great Britain, 
Empress of India, etc., possesses three aunts, sisters of her 
father, whose aquaintance she will never be permitted to 
make. Their social position is such that, although sisters of 
the Duke, and the only surviving members of his immediate 
family, it was found impossible to invite them to be present 



§6 WtTttlN ROYAL PAtACES. 

at their brother's wedding. Unfortunately, they all three 
take after their mother, the late Countess of Fife, who, to put 
the matter as mildly as possible, was the reverse of respect- 
able, and who rendered herself so conspicuous that her son 
was not allowed to see her during his youth. 

The youngest of these three sisters of the Duke of Fife 
is Lady Agnes Cooper. She was married early in the seven- 
ties to the late Lord Dupplin. "Duppy" was, however, 
neither physically nor morally what might be termed a model 
husband, and one fine morninof in the verv heisfht of the season 
— I think it was on the Cup-day of the Ascot races- — the word 
passed that the Viscountess had fled with Herbert Flower, 
who enjoyed the well-deserved reputation of being the hand- 
somest and finest-looking man in England. Lord Dupplin 
took matters philosophically, and secured a divorce from Lady 
Agnes, who forthwith married the companion of her flight. 
In 1 88 1, Herbert Flower died, and after a few months of 
widowhood Lady Agnes married a third husband, the famous 
surgeon, Dr. Alfred Cooper, by whom she had several chil- 
dren. Of course she was ostracized by society and cut by 
her brother. 

The second sister is Lady Ida Wilson, who, after marrying 
Mr, Adrian Hope, scandalized all Vanity Fair by repeatedly 
appearing on the promenade of Rotten Row in a state of 
noisy intoxication, and then capped matters by eloping with 
her courier. For some time she resided in Switzerland with 
her valet de cceur, but has now returned to London to brazen 
matters out as the wife of one William Wilson, whom nobody 
knows, but who is generally believed to be the courier referred 
to above. 

The Duke's eldest sister, the Marchioness of Townsend, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 87 

has the advantage of possessing a half-crazy husband, who 
while closing his eyes to her numerous indiscretions, is by no 
means blind to the violations of the vagrancy and mendicancy 
laws. Until the moment when his own eccentricities and the 
conduct of his wife necessitated his leaving- London he was 
in the habit of causing the arrest and of prosecuting in person 
every beggar that he could catch sight of. 

To such an extent did he carry this mania that it was im- 
possible to open a daily newspaper without seeing an account 
of his appearance in Court against some unfortunate mendi- 
cant or other. I may add that, his son being childless, the 
Marquisate will in due time devolve upon a man who is now 
a five-hundred-dollar clerk in a city merchant's office, and who 
is, moreover, the husband of an actress of the cross-river 
variety and music hall stage. 

Everything that the Duke of Fife touches seems to turn to 
gold. Some founders' shares, which had cost him $150 apiece 
a few years ago, have just been disposed of by him at the 
rate of ;^45,ooo or ^225,000 each. Notwithstanding the pre- 
vailing depression in the value of land in the United King- 
dom, he has been obtaining exceptionally high prices for the 
farms, houses, and estates which he has been selling up in 
Scotland. His reason for thus getting rid of the larger part 
of his landed property, is because the latter only yields him an 
interest of 2^^ per cent., whereas he can obtain double that 
amount, and even more, by investing its value in the 
well-known and prosperous London bank of Samuel Scott 
& Co., of which he is now the principal and managing 
partner. 

It may be of interest to give here a list of the line 
of succession as it now stands, comprising the names 



88 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

of every possible Heir to the Throne claiming through 
George III. 

There are other heirs descending from earlier monarchs of 
the House of Brunswick ; but they are so exceedingly remote 
that it is not worth while to trace them. 

There are, of course, also in the following list certain per- 
sonages who would obviously, from motives of public policy, 
never be allowed to succeed, e. g., the German Emperor ; but 
foreign nationality, or the possession of a foreign Crown, does 
not of itself vitiate their right. Parliament could, and in the 
case of the Throne passing to a foreign sovereign, would bar 
their claim, save perhaps in the case of the Duke of Edin- 
burgh. That Prince will, in the course of nature, become 
Duke of Saxe-Coburg; and in the lamentable and highly 
improbable case of a failure of all the Queen's more immedi- 
ate heirs, he would have to choose between Coburg and Eng- 
land. The Prince of Wales, it will be remembered, became upon 
his father's death heir presumptive to the Duchy of Coburg; 
but to avoid the inconvenience of a potential British monarch 
being also the heir of a Continental reigning sovereign, 
he renounced his rights in Coburg in favor of his next 
brother. It is sometimes said that such-and-such a female 
member of the Royal family, has renounced her right of 
succession. Neither the Act of Settlement, however, under 
which the Crown devolves, nor any other Act, make provision 
for renunciation upon any ground whatsoever. It will be 
observed that the Princess May, whose melancholy posi- 
tion has excited sympathy so wide and so keen, stands last, 
and that, had she become Duchess of Clarence, she would 
have been at once elevated from the last to the second place 
in the list : 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 89 

THE DESCENDANTS OF QUEEN VICTORIA RANGE AS FOLLOWS: 

1. The Prince of Wales, son. 
Children of the Prince of Wales : 

2. Prince George, grandson. 

3. Duchess of Fife, granddaughter. 
Grandchild of the Prince of Wales : 

4. The Lady Alexandra Duff, great-granddaughter. 
Children of the Prince of Wales : 

5. Princess Victoria of Wales, granddaughter. 

6. Princess Maud of Wales, granddaughter. 

7. The Duke of Edinburgh, son. Second son of Queen 

Victoria. 
Children of Duke of Edi^iburgh: 

8. Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, grandson. 

9. Princess Marie of Edinburgh, granddaughter. 

10. Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, granddaughter. 

11. Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh, crranddauehter. 

12. Princess Beatrice of Edinburoh aranddauohter. 

13. The Duke of Connaught, son. Third son of Queen 

Victoria, 
Children of Duke of Connaught : 

14. Prince Arthur of Connaught, grandson. 

15. Princess Margaret of Connaught, granddaughter. 

16. Princess Victoria Patricia of Connaught, granddaugh- 

ter. 
Children of Queen Victoria's A^th son, Duke of Albany y who 
died 1884 : 

17. The Duke of Albany, grandson. 

18. Princess Alice of Albany, granddaughter. 

19. The Empress Frederick of Germany, daughter. Prin- 

cess Royal of England, 



90 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

20. The German Emperor, grandson. Grandson of Queen 

Victoria. 
Children of German Emperor : 

21. The Crown Prince of Prussia, great-grandson. 

22. Prince William Frederick of Prussia, great-grandson. 
Children of German Emperor : 

23. Prince Adalbert of Prussia, great-grandson. 

24. Prince August of Prussia, great-grandson. 

25. Prince Oscar of Prussia, great-grandson. 

26. Prince Joachim Franz Humbert of Prussia, great- 
grandson. 

27. Prince Henry of Prussia, grandson. Brother of Ger- 
man Emperor. 

28. Prince Waldemar of Prussia, great-grandson. Son of 
Prince Henry. 

29. The Hereditary Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen 
granddaughter of Queen Victoria, sister of German Emperor. 

30. Princess Fedora of Saxe-Meiningen, g'randaughter of 
Queen Victoria, daughter of Princess Charlotte of Saxe- 
Meiningen. 

31. Princess Victoria of Prussia, granddaughter of Queei\ 
Victoria, and sister of German Emperor. 

32. The Crown Princess of Greece, granddaughter of 
Queen Victoria, and sister of German Emperor. 

"^T^. Prince George of Greece, great-grandson of Queen 
Victoria and son of Crown Princess of Greece. 

34. Princess Margaretta of Prussia, granddaughter of 
Queen Victoria, and sister of German Emperor. 

35. The Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse, grandson of 
Queen Victoria, and son of her second daughter, Princess 
Alice. 



tkE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 9I 

36. Princess Louis of Battenberg, granddaughter of Queen 
Victoria, and daughter of the late Princess AHce. 

37. Princess Victoria Alice of Battenberg, great-grand- 
daughter of Queen Victoria, and daughter of Princess Louis 
of Battenberg. 

38. Princess Louise Alexandra of Battenberg, great-grand- 
daughter of Queen Victoria, and daughter of Princess Louis 
of Battenbercr. 

39. The Grand Duchess Sergius of Russia, granddaughter 
of Queen Victoria, and daughter of the late Princess Alice 
of England. 

40. Prince Henry of Prussia, wife of No. 27, granddaugh- 
ter of Queen Victoria, and daughter of Princess Alice. 

41. Princess Victoria Alice Helena of Hesse, granddaugh- 
ter of Queen Victoria, and daughter of Princess Alice. 

42. Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, third daugh- 
ter of Queen Victoria. 

43. Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein, grand- 
son of Queen Victoria, and son of Princess Christian. 

44. Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, grandson of 
Queen Victoria, and son of Princess Christian. 

45. Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, granddaugh- 
ter of Queen Victoria, and daughter of Princess Chris- 
tian. 

46. Princess Franziska of Schleswig-Holstein, grand- 
daughter of Queen Victoria, and daughter of Princess Chris- 
tian. 

47. The Marchioness of Lome, fourth daughter of Queen 
Victoria. 

48. Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg, fifth 
daughter of Queen Victoria. 



gi WITHIN ROYAL fALACfiS. 

49. Prince Alexander Albert of Battenberg, grandson of 
Queen Victoria, and son of Princess Beatrice. 

50. Prince Leopold of Battenberg, grandson of Queen 
Victoria, and son of Princess Beatrice. 

51. Prince Donald of Battenberg, grandson of Queen 
Victoria, and son of Princess Beatrice. 

52. Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, granddaugh- 
ter of Queen Victoria, and daughter of Princess Beatrice. 

DESCENDANTS OF KING GEORGE III. 

53. The Duke of Cumberland, great-grandson. 

54. Prince George of Cumberland, great-great-grandson. 

55. Prince Christian of Cumberland, great-great-grand- 
son, 

56. Prince Ernest of Cumberland, great-great-grandson. 

57. Princess Mary of Cumberland, great-granddaughten 

58. Princess Alexandra of Cumberland, great-great-grand- 
dauofhter. 

59. Princess Olga of Cumberland, great-great-grand- 
daughter. 

60. Princess Fredrica of Hanover, Baroness von Pawel 
Ramminoren, oreat-erandauo-hter. 

61. Princess Mary Ernestina of Hanover, great-grand- 
daughter. 

62. The Duke of Cambridge, grandson. 

63. The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, grand- 
daughter. 

64. The Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, great- 
grandson. 

65. Prince Frederick George of Mecklenburg, great- 
grandson. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 93 

66. Princess Victoria Mary of Mecklenburg, great-grand- 
daughter. 

67. Princess Augusta of Mecklenburg, great-granddaugh- 
ter. 

68. The Duchess of Teck, granddaughter. 

69. Prince Adolphus of Teck, great-grandson. 

70. Prince Francis of Teck, great-grandson. 

71. Prince Alexander of Teck, great-grandson. 

72. Princess May, great-granddaughter. 

There are, therefore, 52 princely personages in the direct 
line of succession as descendants of the Queen, twenty more 
being descendants of George III, wl^o come in as collateral 
heirs. It does not, of course, follow that if the Crown of 
England were inherited by the German Emperor (and stranger 
things than that have happened in the chequered history of 
Royal successions), or, still more unlikely, by the Duke of 
Cumberland, either the one or the other would be allowed 
to wear it. The first eventually, is improbable, and the 
second, humanly speaking, is impossible. But it is a curious 
fact that there is at this moment practically only one life — 
that of Prince George — between a Commoner and the Throne. 
A repetition of the terrible calamity of January 14th would 
make the Lady Alexandra Duff heiress presumptive, once 
removed, to the Throne ; although she might, of course, be 
set aside at any moment by the birth of a son to the Duchess 
of Fife. As I said above, the possibility of a Commoner 
mvjunting the Throne is apparendy regarded with alarm by a 
number of persons in whom the historical sense is not strong. 
But when we remember that the crystallization of Royalty 
into an exclusive caste is, in England, a crood deal less than 
two hundred years old, there is nothing either very new or very 



94- WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Strange In the possibility. Lady Jane Grey was a Commoner; 
so was Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, and 
the last Lady Knight of the Garter. Queen Anne and Queen 
Mary II were daughters of a Commoner mother and the 
oranddaus^hters of a self-made man. There is nothino- alarm- 
ing in the possibility — which we all trust that Providence may 
avert — of the Duke of Fife becoming a Royal consort. He 
is himself a ereat-erandson of William IV, and his children 
will consequently possess a Royal descent from both the 
present and the last occupant of the Throne. 

The Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, brother-in-law to Her 
Majesty the Queen, may be said to be one of her pet aver- 
sions. 

It is difficult to Imagine any more striking contrast than 
that which existed between him and his younger brother, the 
late Prince Consort of Great Britain. 

The latter's conduct was beyond reproach, and so blameless 
that it won for him the name of " Albert the Good." 

The elder brother is noted throughout Germany for his 
drinking propensities, and for his fondness for the society of 
ladles of questionable reputation. 

Indeed, there are few wives of any of the sovereigns now 
reigning who have been subjected to more constant abuse, 
neglect, and infidelity than Duchess Alexandrlana, who is a 
sister of the reigning Duke of Baden. 

It was about a couple of years ago that the Duke openly 
quarreled with his nephew and heir, the Duke of Edinburgh, 
owine to the Duchess of Edinburo-h's refusal to Invite to one 
of her entertainments a couple of ladies who were on terms 
of too marked intimacy with Duke Ernest. 

The latter stormed and raged, urging that his two fair 




The Marchioness of Stafford. 



96 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

friends should be invited. The Duchess of Edinburgh, how- 
ever, who has all the obstinacy of her brother the Czar, refused 
to accede to his demands, and for more than a year the Edin- 
burghs were not on speaking terms with their uncle of 
Saxe-Coburg. 

Recently, however, there has been a reconciliation between 
them, but Queen Victoria absolutely declines to have anything 
to do with her brother-in-law, who has offended her, not only 
in this matter, but also by his mode of life, and by his unau- 
thorized publication of a number of confidential letters which 
the Prince Consort addressed to him on English political 
affairs. His publication of these letters was a source of im- 
mense embarrassment and annoyance to the Queen. 

The Duchess of Edinburgh has played a very important 
role in international politics. The wife of the least popular 
of all Queen Victoria's children, occupying an altogether sub- 
ordinate position among the members of the British Royal 
family, since she is forced to yield the " pas " even to Princess 
Beatrice of Battenberg, and possessed of no personal beauty 
or charm, she has nevertheless succeeded in acquiring an 
influence over European politics, which has produced a com- 
plete and most beneficial change of their hitherto clouded 
aspect. 

In the first place, she has utilized her relationship to the 
Czar, whose only sister she is, to bring about a relaxation of 
the tension between Germany and Russia, and it was her 
influence alone that led the Muscovite ruler to atone for his 
past discourtesy to the Emperor William by visiting the latter 
at Kiel. 

It is the Duchess to whom belongs the credit of havings 
neo^otiated the marriao^e between the Crown-Prince of Rou- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 97 

mania and her eldest daughter, Marie — a matrimonial alliance 
that will contribute more than anything else to the peaceful 
settlement of the ever-smoldering Eastern question. 

For a lono^ time the Czar declined to o-ive his consent to 
the marriage of his favorite niece to the Roumanian heir 
apparent, who is a member of the Prussian House of Hohen- 
zollern, but at last he yielded to his sister's arguments and 
signified his approval of the match. 

The latter gives universal satisfaction, and is regarded as a 
powerful guarantee of peace in connection with the Balkan 
difficulty. It invests the Court of Bucharest with ties of close 
and intimate relationship with that of Russia and of Great 
Britain, which cannot fail to impart strength and solidity to 
the hitherto perilous Roumanian throne. 

It also pleases the Roumanian people, who being of the 
orthodox Greek faith, are orlad to find in their future Oueen 
a Princess of the same Church. For, while the sons of the 
Duke of Edinburgh are brought up as Protestants, his daugh- 
ters, accordinof to the terms of the marriao^e contract, are edu- 
cated as members of the Greek Church. 

The principal danger to which the Roumanian throne has 
hitherto been exposed is that of Russian invasion, and the 
entire resources of the kingdom have been devoted toward 
putting the country in a fit state of defense. Henceforth 
this menace will not exist, since the Czar, more than any one 
else, will be interested in the welfare of his favorite niece, the 
future Queen of Roumania. 

Princess Marie of Edinburgh is by far the prettiest of the 
Queen's granddaughters, though Princess Maud of Wales 
runs her very close in point of looks. She has been very 
carefully and strictly brought up under the supervision of the 

7 



gS WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Duchess, who is certainly an excellent mother. She is accom- 
plished in many ways, is an excellent linguist, and a good 
musician. Her study of Russian will help her with the Rou- 
manian tongue, which is near akin to Russian. In personal 
appearance she takes after her father, whereas her two sisters 
rather favor the Duchess. 

The Duchess of Edinburgh is a woman of remarkable 
strength of mind and common sense. The expression of her 
features is not pleasant, as it gives one an impression both of 
sulkiness, bad temper, and arrogance. But she is really a 
very kind woman at heart, and when among her intimate 
friends, simplicity itself. 

That she is very fond of England and of the English, it 
would be idle to assert. As the only daughter of the late 
Czar, and his favorite child, she had been spoiled in the most 
extraordinary manner, and, owing to the delicate health of 
her mother, she occupied, until her marriage, the Empress's 
place at all the Court ceremonies and functions in Russia. 

When, therefore, she came to England and found herself 
relegated to almost the tail-end of the Royal family there, and 
regarded with public ill-will by reason of her husband's exces- 
sive unpopularity, she naturally felt both disappointed and 
dissatisfied. 

The only persons of the English Royal family with whom 
she is able to get along well are the Princess of Wales, who 
is full of kindly attentions and affectionate deference toward 
her, and her mother-in-law, the Queen. 

The Duchess, indeed, is the sole member of the British 
Royal family over whom Her Majesty does not attempt to 
domineer. With her other children the old lady is exceed- 
ingly imperious, and, in her double capacity of mother and 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 99 

sovereign, orders them about in the most despotic manner, 
exacting" implicit and unswerving obedience. 

The Duchess, however, assumes a very independent atti- 
tude toward her, does not permit herself to be bullied, and 
answers her Royal mother-in-law in the latter's own 
fashion, giving her, so to speak, a taste of her own medicine. 

The result is that " Marie," as she is called by her rela- 
tives, enjoys an altogether extraordinary consideration at 
Windsor, and her portrait is the only one which adorns the 
walls of the Queen's private breakfast room, which looks out 
on the great quadrangle. 

The Duchess, who does not like the free-and-easy way of 
the British people toward their Royalty, spends as little 
time in England as possible. She makes her home in the 
beautiful castle of Rosenau, near Coburg, a country of which 
she will become the reiofninor Duchess on the death of the 
present Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 

The Duchess keeps all her effects at Rosenau, where she 
is surrounded by a little court and treated with an immense 
amount of honor and consideration. Her husband, however, 
makes his headquarters in the Royal palace, known as Clar- 
ence House, which has been assigned to him by the Queen 
as his London residence. It is there that he keeps his valu- 
able collection of barbaric weapons, hunting trophies, glass, 
and rare porcelain. 

True, the Duke has never given rise by his conduct to any 
matrimonial scandal. But he is blest with an abominable 
temper, the most glaring want of tact, and has lost much of 
that comeliness which caused the Grand Duchess Marie to 
fall in love with him, and to persist in marrying him notwith- 
standing the objections made by his relatives. 



lOO WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

The Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief of the Bri- 
tish army, is probably the most popular man of the Royal 
family. A great deal of good-natured fun is poked at him by 
the press, but, notwithstanding this, there is no doubt that he 
is more in touch with the English public than any of the 
others. He is a fine, tall old man, with white^ mustache and 
whiskers, white hair and very florid face. His manner is 
frank, bluff, and hearty, his grasp of the hand honest, and his 
whole being inspires good-will and sympathy. He is noted 
for the picturesque character of his language, which is almost 
as highly colored as his complexion. His oaths are strange 
and awe-inspiring, and his temper being exceedingly short, 
they are somewhat frequent. His remarks during an inspec- 
tion of troops when everything is not in first-rate condition 
are of a nature to be remembered. With all that he is 
very kind of heart, and his anger, though violent, is quickly 
over. 

Born about two months before his cousin, Queen Victoria, 
he spent most of his youth in Germany, first of all at Hano- 
ver, where his father acted as British viceroy until it was 
converted Into an independent kingdom In 1837, ^^^ after- 
ward at Berlin. The result is that his English, like that of 
the Queen and her children, is distinguished by a strong and 
gutteral Teutonic accent. That is, however, about the only 
German thing about him, for in everything else he is English 
to the very core. 

He will leave no heirs to his name, for I regret to say that 
his children are not legitimate. In his early days he was the 
hero of many love affairs, being gay, dashing, brilliant, and, 
above all, a Royal Prince. He was fortunate enough to 
succeed in keeping his name out of the divorce court, and 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 01 

never permitted himself to become incriminated in any public 
scandal. 

His affaires de coeur culminated in a marriage with a Dub- 
lin actress, which ceremony, being unsanctioned by the Queen, 
was, in the eyes of the law, null and void, for the English 
statute-book, prescribes that no marriage of a member of the 
British Royal family shall be regarded as valid unless spe- 
cially authorized by the sovereign. 

After his marriage, the Duke George settled down and 
remained true to his actress-wife until her death a couple of 
years ago. She did not live with him at his residence at 
Gloucester House, Picadilly, but in a smaller mansion, in an 
adjacent street, where he has wont to visit her every day, and 
to take at least one meal. At his country residence, at 
Coombe, near Wimbledon, where he possesses a large estate, 
they lived together as husband and wife, she being known by 
the name of Mrs. Fitz George, v/hich is the patronymic borne 
by her five children. Two of .these are girls, both of them 
now married ; while the other three are sons, one in the navy 
and the others in the army. They are very popular, both in 
military and social circles, and one or the other is always in 
attendance on the old Duke. 

Mrs. Fitz George was altogether unknown to society, and 
was a very simple-minded, worthy lady, perfectly contented 
to remain entirely in the background. The only person 
besides herself who shared the Duke's attentions was his 
mother, the venerable Duchess of Cambridge, who died within 
a few months after the death of her plebeian daughter-in-law. 
The Duke was the most dudful of sons to her, and never 
allowed a single day to pass when in town without going 
around to St. James's Palace, where she resided, to spend an 



I02 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

hour in retailing to her the gossip of the town, in which she, 
to the very last, displayed a most extraordinary interest. She 
was a wonderful old lady, a German Princess by birth, and at 
the age of fourteen witnessed from the terrace of her father's 
chateau the retreat of Napoleon I after his defeat at the battle 
of Leipzig. 

The Duke distinguished himself by his personal gallantry, 
though not by his generalship, in the Crimean war, where his 
conduct presented a marked contrast with that of Prince 
Napoleon, and where he won for himself a considerable 
amount of popularity among the British soldiers. It is this 
popularity which causes them to close their eyes to his idio- 
syncrasies and mannerisms, such as, for instance, when he 
undertakes to review them seated on horseback in full war 
paint, and holding an umbrella over his head to shield him 
from the rain. In fact, this led to his being named the " Um- 
brella Duke." 

Whenever his cousin, the Queen, has hinted to him that he 
has reached the age appointed by the statutes for the retire- 
ment of her officers from active service, he has invariably 
responded by suggesting that he was still quite as capable 
of performing the duties in connection with the Commander- 
in-Chief of the army as she was to fulfill her duties as Queen 
of England ! In claiming that his faculties are unimpaired by 
age, he is not far wrong, for, never having been very brilliant 
or remarkable for the penetration of his mind, his senility 
has not yet become very conspicuous, and the evidences of 
his age are limited to his falling asleep after dinner, and 
sometimes even during the meal, when his head is apt to slip 
on the shoulder of the lady to his right or left, and the con- 
versation to be temporarily hushed by a snore of Royal and 
Georgian proportions. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

GREAT BRITAIN. 
IV. 

AMONG other picturesque and ornamental features of 
Queen Victoria's Court are her two body-guards, the 
one composed of pensioned Colonels and Majors, with 
distinguished service records, who are entitled the " Gentle- 
men-at-Arms," whilst the other is recruited from non-com- 
missioned officers, and its members are known by the name 
of the "Yeomen of the Guard," the public, however, for some 
reason or other, designating them as " Beefeaters." 

A yeoman usher and a party of yeomen now compose the 
Guard that attends in the Great Chamber on Levee days and 
Drawing-Room days, their office being to keep the passage 
clear, that the nobiUty who frequent the Court may pass with- 
out inconvenience. The usher is posted at the head of the 
room, close by the door leading into the Presence Chamber, 
to whom, when persons of a certain distinction enter from the 
stairs, the lowermost yeoman next to the entrance of the 
Chamber calls aloud, "Yeoman Usher!" to apprise him of 
such approach. To this the Usher makes answer by audibly 
crying, "Stand by!" to warn all indifferent persons to leave 
the passage clear. 

The Captain of the "Yeomen of the Guard," who is inva- 
riably a Peer of the Realm, and who changes with each ad- 
ministration, receives a salary of ^5,000. He is ex-officio a 
member of the Privy Council, wears, like other officers of the 

103 



I04 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

corps, a military uniform, and carries an ebony baton tipped 
with gold as his badge of office. 

The Lieutenant of the " Yeomen of the Guard " receives 
^2,500 per annum, and his baton is only mounted in silver 
instead of beingf mounted in eold. Then ag-ain there is an 
Ensign, enjoying a salary of $750 per annum, although there 
does not exist the smallest evidence that the Corps ever pos- 
sessed either banner or standard. Like the Lieutenant, the 
Ensign bears an ebony baton mounted in silver. Then there 
are four Exempts, Exons, or Corporals, and these gentlemen 
command in the absence of the Lieutenant or Ensign, one of 
them sleeping at St. James' Palace, as Commandant of the 
Yeomen on duty, a thing which no other officer of the Corps 
does, and having in this way a delegated authority, which he 
exercises in the absence of his superior officer. 

The Gentlemen-at-Arms, when instituted by Henry VIII, 
were intended to be recruited from a higher class of his sub- 
jects than the " Yeomen of the Guard," Avowedly, like many 
similar corps in other Courts, an imitation of the "Gentlemen 
of the French King's House," a body composed almost en- 
tirely of young grandees, the members of the new guard 
were to be "chosen of gentlemen, not that to becommen and 
extracte of Noble Blood." 

All the Captains have been noblemen of high rank, and the 
present corps is composed entirely of ex-commissioned officers 
of distinction. For a long time the Gentlemen-at-Arms and 
the Yeomen of the Guard were the only standing forces tol- 
erated in the Kingdom. In those days they figured in all 
ceremonials — marriages, coronations, and funerals. They 
received Ainbassadors, and escorted foreign Princes on visits 
to the Sovereign, et militare runt iion sine glo7'-ia, for they 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. I05 

were at the seige of Boulogne, the Battle of Spurs, and on 
other battle-fields of France. 

When the Queen came to the Throne only three of the 
Guard were old soldiers, though all of them bore the courtesy 
title of "Captain," and in precedence ranked immediately 
after Privy Councillors. The Corps now contains over 40 
members, every one of whom has served with more or less 
distinction, and perhaps at no period in its history has the 
ancient Guard reached a higher social standard. 

One of the most peculiar offices in connection with the 
Royal household is that of the " Queen's Champion," which 
is held by the Hon. F. S. Dymoke, by right of inheritance. 

The ''Champion of England," for that is his official title, 
only appears once during the reign of a British Monarch — 
namely, at the coronation. While the coronation banquet is 
in progress, which has hitherto always taken place in West- 
minster Hall, the Champion enters on horseback, arrayed from 
head to foot in steel armor, and with closed visor. 

Raising the visor, he challenges all comers to deny the title 
of the sovereign, and offers, if necessary, to fight them on 
the spot. It is needless to add that no one is ever found to 
take up the gauntlet which he casts down on the floor. A 
ofolden eoblet full of wine is then handed to him, which he 
drains to the health of the monarch, after which he backs his 
charger from the Royal presence, carrying with iiim the mag- 
nificently chased golden goblet as his perquisite. 

The office Is a very ancient one, and is popularly supposed 
to have been instituted by William the Conqueror, who con- 
ferred it upon Robert de Marmion, with the Castle of Tam- 
worth and the Manor of Scrivelsby. At the coronation of 
Richard II the office was claimed by Sir John Dymoke, of 



I06 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Scrivelsby Manor, and Baldwin de Trevill, of Tamworth 
Castle. It was finally decided that the title of Champion of 
England went with the Manor of Scrivelsby, and belonged 
to Sir John Dymoke, in whose family it has remained until the 
present day. Should Mr. Dymoke die, it will be his nearest 
male relative who will inherit the manor and office. 

Her Majesty's footmen are exceedingly imposing and 
superb. They used, however, to be somewhat more exalted 
personages than they are now. Early in the Queen's reign 
the salary of the Royal footman was $550 a year, with a 
possible rise to the rank of a Senior footman with ^600 a 
year. This was not, it may be thought, very splendid, but the 
dignity of the service, and the fact that it was always followed 
by a pension, and sometimes led to higher rank, rendered it 
attractive to stalwart members of the respectable middle class 
on the lookout for a career. Moreover, there were perqui- 
sites — bread and beer money, for instance — amounting to ^70 
a yean Besides this, a footman sent on a journey, however 
short, would have six shillings a day for refreshment. All 
that, however, was in the good days before the besom Reform 
swept out the Queen's establishment, when Prince Albert 
was in the prime of his vigor. Nowadays even so gorgeous 
a gentleman as the Queen's footman has to begin with a 
modest $250 a year, which in course of time may expand to 
^400, but no' further. Perquisites, too, have been abolished 
or curtailed. There is an allowance of six guineas and a half 
for hair-powder, bag, and stockings; but, sad to say, each man 
has to find his own blacking and boot-brushes, and to pay for 
his own washing. A suit of State livery is said to cost $650. 
They are rarely used, and of course rarely renewed. When 
they are renewed, however, the old garments become the 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 107 

perquisites of the wearers, and the gold lace upon them is, of 
course, of considerable value. The Queen has fifteen footmen, 
and one sergeant-footman with a salary of $650 a year. For- 
merly the sergeant-footmen or one of the six senior footmen 
was often promoted to the position of Page of the Presence or 
of a Queen's Messenger, either of which was worth ^1,500, 
or ^2,000 a year. But this practice has gone the way of 
most of the perquisites, and the position of a Royal footman 
is no longer sought for as it used to be, though, of course, 
there are plenty who would be glad to get it. But there are 
corresponding positions in less exalted households in which a 
well-built young man, with the necessary development of 
calf, who aspires to become a footman, may do better for his 
fortunes than in the service of the Crown. 

Next to Her Majesty's footmen, the State trumpeters are 
among the most popular of functionaries on all great occa- 
sions. There are e'xQ-ht of them, with a sergeant at their 
head. They form part of the State band, which, distinct from 
Her Majesty's private band, is only called upon on important 
occasions. As in the case of the footmen, their gorgeous 
raiment, their silver trumpets, and their stately demeanor 
miofht suo-orest to the uninitiated dicrnitaries of larq-e emolu- 
ments, if not of exalted rank. Their sergeant gets $500 a 
year, and each of the eight minor musicians $200 though 
there are, in addition, fees paid to each of them on each occa- 
sion of their performing in public. 

From footmen and trumpeters to pursuivants, heralds, and 
kings-at-arms is a great stride up the social and ceremonial 
ladder. These functionaries have both a popular and his- 
torical interest. Their quaindy gorgeous costumes always 
attract attention on State occasions, and their undoubted an- 



J08 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

tlquity and mysterious functions — their declarations of war 
and of peace, their announcements at coronations, and their 
solemn annunciations of titles and dignities over illustrious 
graves — all tend to invest them with a curious interest in the 
eyes of all beholders. 

The heralds must be gentlemen "skilled in the ancient and 
modern languages, good historians, and conversant in the 
genealogies of the nobility and gentry." The direct emolu- 
ments of the office are trivial. But it is their function "to 
grant coats armorial and supporters to the same to such as 
are properly authorized to bear them ; where no armorial 
arms are known to belong to the party applying for the grant 
they invent devices and emblazon them in the most applicable 
manner, so as to reflect credit upon their own fertility of 
knowledge, and to afford satisfaction to the wearer." They 
are, of course, entitled to more liberal fees than fall to the lot 
of most inventors, and, moreover, they are the great sources 
of the genealogical lore. Pursuivants, heralds, and kings-at- 
arms are under the Earl-Marshal of England, the Duke of 
Norfolk, and, indeed, are now created by him. Formerly 
when kings-at-arms were more important functionaries than 
they are now, they were crowned veritable kings by the 
sovereign himself. They go through the same ceremony of 
installation now, but it is performed by the Earl-Marshal, by 
Royal warrant. Upon this occasion the chosen functionary 
takes his oath, wine is poured out of a gilt cup with a cover, 
his title is pronounced, and he is invested with a tabret of the 
Royal arms richly embroidered upon velvet, a collar of SS, 
with two portcullises of silver gilt, a gold chain, with a badge 
of his office. Then the Earl-Marshal places on his head a 
crown of a king-of-arms, which formerly resembled a ducal 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. I09 

coronet ; but since the Restoration it has been adorned with 
leaves resembhng those of the oak, and circumscribed accord- 
ing to ancient customs with the words, " Miserere met Deus 
^ecicndum magnum misericordiain tuamT 

Garter has also a mantle of crimson satin as an officer of 
the order, and a white rod or sceptre with the sovereign's 
arms upon the top, which he bears in the presence of the 
sovereign. There are three kings-at-arms. Garter is King- 
at-arms of England, Clarencieux is king of the province south 
of the Trent, and Norroy is king of the northern provinces. 
The heralds go through an initiatory ceremony as the kings, 
except the crowning. They are all military and civil officers, 
and in token of this they are all sworn on sword and Bible. 

The office of Earl-Marshal is amono- the hio^hest and oldest. 
He is the eighth great officer of State, and is the only Earl 
who is an Earl by virtue of his office. 

The Lord Steward is another holder of a slip from the scep- 
tre. He has a white wand as an emblem of his authority 
under the Crown. He is supposed to have the sole direction 
of the Queen's household, and receives ^lo.ooo a year, though 
except on State occasions he is not required at Court, the 
practical functions of his office being discharged by the resi- 
dent master of the household. The Queen's establishments, 
however, excepting only the chamber, stables, and chapel, are 
supposed to be under his entire control. All his commands 
are to be obeyed, and he has power to hold courts for the 
administration of justice, and for settling disputes between 
the Queen's servants. The Lord Steward always bears his 
white wand when in the presence of the sovereign, and on 
all ceremonial occasions when the sovereign is not present 
the wand is borne before him by a footman walking bare- 



no WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

headed. He takes this symbol of delegated power directly 
from the sovereign's hand, and has no other formal grant 
of office. On the death of the monarch the Lord Steward 
breaks his wand of office over the corpse, and his functions 
are at an end, and all the officers of the Royal household are 
virtually discharged. 

The principal throne of Queen Victoria is in the House 
of Lords. It is elevated on a dais, the central portion having 
three, and the sides two steps, covered with a carpet of the 
richest velvet pile. The ground color of the carpet is a 
bright scarlet, and the pattern on it consists of roses and 
lions, alternately. A gold-colored fringe borders the carpet. 

The canopy to the Throne is divided into three apartments, 
the central one, much loftier than the others, for Her Majesty, 
that on the right hand for the Prince of Wales, and on the left 
that which used to be Prince Albert's. The back of the cen- 
tral compartment is paneled in the most exquisite manner. 
The three lowest tiers have the lions passant of England, 
carvicd and gilded on a red ground, and above them in a wide 
panel, arched, and enriched with dainty carvings, are the 
Royal arms of England, surrounded by the Garter, with its 
supporters, helmet and crest, and an elaborate mantling form- 
ing a rich and varied background. The motto, '' Dieu et Mon 
Droit'' is on a horizontal band of deep blue tint. In small 
panels, traceried, parallel with the large arched one, are roses, 
shamrocks, and thistles, clustered together, and crowned ; 
and above them, in double arched panels, the Royal mono- 
gram, crowned and interwoven by a cord, are introduced. 

The Crown Jewels of Great Britain are kept at the Tower 
of London, and are entrusted to the care of the " Keeper of 
the Resfalia." The office dates back to the reian of Kingf 




Queen Victoria's Throne. 



112 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Charles II, when Colonel Blood attempted to steal the 
Royal crown, and the holder thereof ranks ex-officio with the 
first Knight Bachelor of the Kingdom. 

It may be of interest to the many American visitors to the 
Tower to learn that there is no foundation for the popular 
belief that the crown, the orb, and the other symbols of Roy- 
alty borne before the Queen on State occasions are merely 
imitations of the originals. This belief, however, is not one 
of long standing, and it may possibly have originated in the 
fact that some years ago a noble duke, to whom had been 
entrusted the proud and much envied privilege of carrying 
the crown on a cushion before the sovereign, accidentally 
dropped it. This was considered at the time an occurrence 
of ill-omen, especially as one of the famous stones was forced 
out of its setting by the fall and rolled upon the floor. It is 
the genuine Crown which is always taken to the House of 
Parliament and brouo-ht back to the Tower in one of the 
Royal carriages, escorted by Tower warders and by a strong 
force of mounted police. 

The civil list which the Queen receives from Parliament 
amounts to $3,000,000, out of which she pays the salaries of 
the Royal Household, amounting to over $1,000,000. The 
Prince of Wales receives from the State an annual income 
of $500,000 and his wife $50,000 per annum. In addition to 
this, the Prince of Wales receives another $200,000 from the 
State for the use of his children. Each of the younger sons 
of the Queen receives from the State an allowance of $125,- 
000 per annum, while Her Majesty's daughters have to 
remain content with allowances of $30,000 per annum. In 
addition to this, Queen Victoria's daughters have each 
received from the State a dowry of $150,000 at the time of 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. I 1 3 

their marriage. All the vast Crown domains which formerly 
belonged to the reigning family were surrendered to the 
National Government during the reign of Queen Victoria's 
iincle, King George IV. The Queen's private property is 
far smaller than generally supposed and her landed property 
limited in extent. 

The Jewel-house contains all the crown jewels of England, 
inclosed in an immense case. Prominent among them is the 
crown made for the coronation of Queen Victoria, at the ex- 
pense of about ^600,000. Among the profusion of diamonds 
is the large ruby worn by the Black Prince, mentioned above ; 
the crown made for the coronation of Charles II ; the crown 
of the Prince of Wales, and that of the late Prince Consort ; 
the crown made for the coronation of James IPs Queen; also 
her ivory sceptre. The coronation spoon, and bracelets and 
royal spurs, swords of Mercy and Justice, are among the other 
jewels. Here, too, is the silver-gilt baptismal font, in which 
is deposited the christening water for the Royal children, and 
the celebrated Koh-i-noor diamond, the present property of 
Queen Victoria, and the object of such interest at the Great 
Exhibition in Hyde Park in 1851. It formerly belonged to 
Runjeet Singh, chief of Lahore, and was called the "Moun- 
tain of Light," and its value is untold. 

The Queen's two railway saloons for Continental journeys, 
which are the private property of Her Majesty, and which 
are kept at Brussels, at the Gare du Nord, are connected by 
a passage, and are fitted with electric bells, and lighted with 
oil lamps, as the Queen does not like the electric light for 
reading or writing. The day saloon is furnished with sofas, 
arm-chairs of various kinds, and foot-stools, all covered with 
blue silk, with fringes and tassels of yellow. The walls are 



114 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

hung with blue and pearl-gray silk, brocaded with the rose, 
shamrock, and thistle, in yellow. There is a writing-table of 
walnut-wood, two small tables, and one large one, on which 
meals are served during a journey. The floor is covered with 
an Indian carpet of dark blue, and the curtains are blue and 
white. There is a separate compartment in front for the 
Queen's Highland attendant, Francis Clark, the successor of 
John Brown. 

The night saloon is a larger carriage, and it is divided into 
several compartments. The dressing-room is decorated in 
Japanese style, and the floor is covered with bamboo. There 
is a white metal bath, and the toilet service and large basins 
on the washstand (which is covered with dark morocco 
leather) are of the same material. The bed-room is decorated 
in gray and light brown, and contains two beds, the largest 
of which is occupied by the Queen. There is another com- 
partment, in which is stored away the luggage needed by the 
Queen during the journey, and two maids occupy it, and 
sleep on sofas. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

* OF 

GREAT BRITAIN. 
V. 

IF the chivalrous and knightly character of the Austrian Em- 
peror reminds one of ancient rather than modern times, 
that of the Prince of Wales, on the other hand, must be re- 
garded as thoroughly in keeping with the present age. Eng- 
land's future King is exceedingly what the French describe as 
''fin de Steele'' (end of the century), whereas Francis Joseph 
would be set down by many as an old-fashioned man. 
The one is the knight of the Round-Table epoch, the other 
the gentleman of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, 
and possessing all the merits and a few of the vices of the 
English club-man of to-day. 

That the Prince is quite as fully imbued as others with the 
sacred character of Royalty is clearly to be seen from the 
harsh and cuttinof manner in which he has resented his sister 
Louise's marriage to Lord Lome and that of Princess Beatrice 
to the Hebrew-descended Henry of Battenberg. While, 
however, he loses no opportunity of making these two 
brothers-in-law of his feel the impassable gulf which separates 
his rank and station from theirs, he is most careful to conceal 
from the general public his opinions as to the divinity that 
hedges Kings and their offspring from the common herd. 
He possesses in the most marked degree that principal in- 
gredient of power, influence and success, namely tact, and it 
is to this particular that he owes his widespread popularity. 

I remember witnessine an amusino- manifestation of this 
tact on the part of the Prince. The Right Honorable A. 

("5) 



Il6 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Mundella, who was born in England as the son of an exiled 
Carbonari, held for many years the leadership of the extreme 
Radical — nay, I might almost say, the Republican Party in the 
Kingdom. He was a bitter foe of Royalty, and as member 
of Parliament for Sheffield was always the first to protest 
against money being granted to the members of the Sover- 
eign's family. One autumn day the Prince and Princess of 
Wales happened to pass through Sheffield on their way to 
their Scotch castle at Abergeldie. Their train only halted for 
about ten minutes in the station — just long enough to change 
enp-ines and to examine the wheels. But the Prince made 
good use of the time. Hearing that Mr. Mundella was on 
the platform of the station awaiting some friends, and that he 
was billed to deliver one of his usual inflammatory and almost 
revolutionary addresses in the afternoon, the Prince caused 
him to be summoned to the door of his saloon carriage. 
After shaking hands most heartily, he presented him to the 
Princess, who, following her husband's cue, was equally gra- 
cious to the Radical leader. The Prince thereupon ex- 
claimed : 

"I hear, my dear Mr. Mundella, that you are about to de- 
liver one of your eloquent addresses to your constituents this 
afternoon. I do wish you would oblige both the Princess 
and myself by availing yourself of that opportunity to inform 
the good people of Sheffield how sorry we are not to be able 
to stay here for a few days on our way north, and that you 
would tell them with what pleasure we look back to the royal 
and enthusiastic demonstrations with which they welcomed us 
on the occasion of our last visit." 

At that moment the engine whistled, the bell clanged and 
the royal train moved out of the station, leaving Mr. Mun- 




The Prince of Wales 

In Royal Attire. 



Il8 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

della bowing low in response to the friendly smiles and waves 
of the hand of the Prince and Princess. That same after- 
noon he completely staggered his constituents by appearing 
in the guise of an emissary from Royalty, instead of that of 
its most bitter assailant. On rising to address the meeting, 
he began: "Gentlemen, I have been commissioned by their 
Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales, to com- 
municate to you the following gracious message," which he 
then proceeded to deliver in his most unctuous and senten- 
tious manner. After such an opening it was obviously out 
of the question to expect him to deliver his customary dia- 
tribes against Royalty, and, like Balaam of old, he blessed 
those whom he had been summoned to curse. From that 
date forth Mr. Mundella's political sentiments underwent a 
considerable change. The ex-factory boy became a frequent 
guest at Marlborough-House, and in a short time became so 
much reconciled to the doctrines of Royalty that he aban- 
doned his hopes of a future Presidency of an eventual British 
Republic to become a Privy Councillor to the Queen. He 
has since held office as Cabinet Minister, and according to 
present appearances will die a rabid and bigoted Tory of the 
old school. 

Hundreds of similar instances might be cited to illustrate 
the Prince's extraordinary tact. The latter is indeed one of 
the principal sources of his power in England. For although 
jealously debarred by his queenly mother from any active 
share in the Government of the nation, he wields a sover- 
eignty of his own creation, — an extremely beneficial one in 
many respects — which is far more powerful and autocratic 
than hers. Its character is of a social nature, and he is 
able to decree either the social success or the social death of 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. II9 

any one that may attract his notice. A few quiet hints as to 
the fact that he objects to some particular individual is suffi- 
cient to cause the social ostracism of the latter, whereas a 
word of commendation from his lips is all that is needed to 
become a fair leader of society. It is he alone who has made 
the social position of the Rothschilds in London, and that, too, 
within the last fifteen years. Before that they were kept out- 
side the pale of the social world, whereas now they are be- 
coming its leaders. Baron Hirsch, the Hebrew millionaire, is 
another case in point. His financial dealings with the Sub- 
lime Porte and with other Governments were of so exceed- 
ingly unsavory a nature that, notwithstanding all the efforts 
of the Orleans Princes to secure his election, he was black- 
balled by the Paris Jockey Club. The Prince, however, took 
him up a short time ago and pitchforked him into the whirl- 
pool of London society, of which he has now become a shin- 
ing light. The financier whose reputation was considered as 
being too shady to admit of his election to the Paris Jockey 
Club has been honored in London with the exceedingly rare 
privilege of the private entree at Buckingham Palace, and 
has blossomed fordi into an honored guest, not only at Marl- 
borough-House, but also at the mansions of men so exclusive 
as the Dukes of Richmond and Westminster, which the Prince 
frequents. I mention these cases to show the Prince's ex- 
traordinary social power, an autocracy which, all things con- 
sidered, has been of a beneficent and fortunate nature. 
Good-natured almost to a fault, his otherwise sound judgment 
and common-sense become sometimes warped by the in- 
sidious influences of unworthy friends. 

When his record comes to be written in the Great Book, I 
think that it will be found that the chief and almost only 



J20 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

wrong-doings of this most happy and pleasure-loving Prince 
will be on the score of bad companionship. It is, however, 
impossible to retain any notions as to the divine or sacred 
character of his Royalty when hearing of him as bandying 
witticisms of a rather risque nature with sprightly French 
actresses, and absorbing a hearty midnight supper in some 
boulevard restaurant with a few boon companions. More- 
over, it seems to me rather incongruous that right reverend 
fathers in God, such as the Archbishops of Canterbury and 
York, should ever be called upon to kiss the hand which has 
a moment before clasped that of some frail queen of the 
opera boufie ; and rather than attempt to force myself to re- 
gard his jovial Royal Highness with the awe and veneration 
due to an anointed of the Lord, if not in esse, at any rate in 
fuhiro, I prefer to continue to consider him in the light of a 
warm-hearted friend, as an honorable and kindly gentleman 
in every sense of the w^ord, and as a man whom, either as 
Prince or peasant, any one would be proud and happy to pos- 
sess as a friend. 

With traits of character such as these, it is only natural that 
he should be exceedingly popular with all classes. Indeed it 
is open to question whether the English people do not prefer 
the presence to the absence of his faults. For the latter are 
those of a generous, pleasure-loving nature, and without 
these '' petits vices,''' as the French call them, he would run the 
risk of being regarded with the same disfavor as his father, 
the Prince Consort, whose blameless life and faultless char- 
acter led to his being considered by the English people at 
large as something of a prig. 

On the whole, they are right to view the faults of the Royal 
Welshman with indulgence. For, aside from the natural dis- 




Princess Victuxia of Wales. 



122 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

inclination to provoke outbursts of iil-temper on the part of 
so good-humored and jovial-hearted a Prince, there is a uni- 
versal disposition to abstain from all individual criticism or 
censure of his conduct. He lives in an atmosphere of such 
loyalty that it may almost be described as sycophancy, and 
although he may be made the object of collective and indirect 
criticism from those who do not come into actual contact with 
him, yet there is no one who ventures personally to point out 
to him the right and wrong of his ways. If he has remained 
an honorable and true-hearted gentleman, and if his record 
is free from all but mere venial sins, it is due to his own sound 
common-sense, his innate honesty of purpose, and his in- 
grained horror of everything that is mean and vulgar. And 
with reg-ard to this distinction between collective and individ- 
ual criticism, it is well to bear in mind that all the sentiments 
which foreigners are disposed to regard as indicating dis- 
loyalty and latent Republicanism in England are merely col- 
lective, and not individual. The average every-day English- 
man is at heart as much a snob now as he was in the days 
when Thackeray held him up to the ridicule of the world. 
There is no son of John Bull who is not susceptible to the 
influence of rank, and perhaps the best illustration that can 
be given thereof is the mention of the fact that the Reverend 
Lord Normanby has been obliged to resign the rectorship of 
his parish at Worsley owing to the influx of corpses. Since 
the excellent parson's succession to his father's title five years 
ago, everybody that could possibly afford it in the neighboring 
towns and districts seemed to have given directions before 
dying that their funeral should take place at Worsley, so that 
they might enjoy the post-mortem satisfaction of having a real 
marquis read the burial service over their bodies. As long 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 23 

as sentiments such as these prevail in England the days 
of republicanismare far off. 

At any rate the Prince has a most excellent influence on 
the English people, and has done more good than can be 
recorded here, both to the classes, and to the masses. 

I am perfectly aware that my assertions with regard to the 
beneficial character of the influence of the Prince of Wales 
upon English life will sound strange to the ears of those who 
have been accustomed to regard the eldest son of Queen Vic- 
toria as responsible for most of the loose screws that appear 
in the social system of Great Britain, and that they will be dis- 
inclined to believe that he has ever contributed in any way to 
the amelioration of the character, the behavior, and the morals 
of John Bull. 

If, however, the Englishman of to-day is more respectable, 
less coarse and boorish, and more correct both in feeling and 
manner — an improvement which no one will venture to deny — 
it is mainly attributable to the Prince of Wales. Up to the 
time when the latter commenced his social reign in 1863, 
heavy drinking at dinner after the ladies had left the table 
was the invariable rule, and the phrase "as drunk as a lord," 
a term not of reproach but of praise. Inebriety was not con- 
sidered as a vice — nay, not even as bad form ; and but small 
respect or consideration was accorded by society to the man 
who could not dispose of the traditional " three bottles at a 
sitting." Of course the example thus set by the classes was 
followed and adopted in a still more intensified degree by the 
masses, the only difference consisting in the character and the 
quality of the liquor. 

Indeed, during the early portion of the reign of Queen 
Victoria, the drunkenness in Great Britain was something 



124 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

perfectly appalling. The very marked decline of that vice — 
which was formerly regarded as a peculiarly English failing — is 
due to the Prince of Wales. It is entirely owing to the influ- 
ence of that social despot that hard drinking is no longer 
countenanced by society; and as in everything else so also in 
this the masses follow in the steps of the classes. Drunken- 
ness is now regarded as being bad form in the banqueting 
halls of the Peer, as well as in the back parlor of the small 
shopkeeper, in the smoking-room of the crack London Clubs 
as in the cafe or barroom of the suburban "pub" or gin- 
mill. 

Swearing and coarse lanoruaae too have o-one out of fashion. 
Neither Lord nor commoner deems it necessary any longer to 
preface every remark with an oath or to interlard each sen- 
tence with blood-curdling blasphemy. This change for the 
better is, like the decrease of hard drinking, attributable to the 
Prince of Wales. One of the very best features of the Eng- 
lish people is the respect which they, one and all, manifest 
towards the ordinances of the Church. It may be that there is 
more conventionality than real heart-felt religion in the attitude 
of many of them, but be the motives and causes what they may, 
the result achieved is an excellent one. For regular attendance 
at church is certain to exercise an influence far more benefi- 
cial than injurious, and the moral tone of a nation which has 
been brought by its social autocrat to look upon this regular 
attendance at church as a sine qua non of respectability, can- 
not be considered otherwise than as healthy in the extreme. 
Now this church-going is but another instance of the potency 
of the Prince's influence. He makes a point of never miss- 
ing to put in an appearance at church at least once every 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 25 

Sunday. The classes have scrupulously followed his example 
in the matter, and so too again have the masses. 

Anent this phase of the Prince's character nothing can be 
more amusing than to watch him when at Sandringham mar- 
shalling his guests off to church on Sunday morning. Shortly 
before eleven he will make his appearance in the hall, and 
chaffingly order everybody nolens volens to get ready for 
church. Those who happen to belong to the Catholic creed 
are sent off in carriages to King's-Lynn, while the Church of 
England people walk through the Park to the small but 
exceedingly pretty little church which the Prince had built on 
his Norfolk estate. He will invariably remain in the hall 
until he has seen the whole party off, and will then bring up 
the rear guard himself, keeping a sharp lookout for stragglers, 

I do not desire to be regarded in any way as an apologist 
of the Prince — the kindest, most considerate and thoughtful 
of friends. For an apology always implies evil perpetrated. 
But I should like to show the Prince as he really is : I may 
claim to know something about him, much more probably 
tlian those who, without any personal or direct knowledge of 
the man, have so systematically blackened his reputation, both 
in speech and print. Among all those persons who are so 
especially ready to write and repeat stories of the Prince's 
profligacy and depravity there is very likely not a single one 
who has been personally acquainted with him, or who knew 
of his mode of life otherwise than by hearsay. 

The best criterion of a man's character is furnished by his 
home life, and writing from personal experience I do not 
believe that in all the broad lands of old England, there exists 
a more unaffected, happy, and altogether charming home than 
that of the Prince of Wales at Sandringham. There are 



126 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

doubtless many country houses as luxurious and some more 
magnificent, but there is hardly another where so much com- 
fort is united with such exquisite taste and refinement. It is 
the Prince himself who welcomes the arriving guests In the 
hall, and who, after taking you off to the Princess's room on 
the ground fioor for refreshment in the shape of five o'clock 
tea, brings you upstairs himself to your room, in order to see 
that you have everything you want. Nor will he leave you 
until he has rung the bell and instructed one of the servants 
to specially attend to your wants and comforts. Dinner, which 
usually takes place at a number of small round tables, each 
laid for a party of six or eight at the very most, does not 
usually last more than an hour, for the Prince, although a 
great gourmet, hates long and overloaded menus. After the 
ladies have retired to the drawing rooms, the men remain to 
discuss a glass of claret and smoke a cigarette ; then they join 
the ladies. At about midnight the latter withdraw, while the 
men accompany the Prince to the smoking and billiard rooms. 
One of the favorite g-uests at Sandrino-ham is the American 
Duchess of Manchester, whose infamous treatment by her late 
husband had aroused the sympathy of both the Prince and 
Princess in her behalf Everything that both of them could 
possibly invent to brighten her unhappy lot was done, and I 
should imagine that some of the very best moments of her 
otherwise sorrowful life have been spent under the roof of 
her kind-hearted and considerate friends, the Prince and 
Princess of Wales. She is usually accompanied by one or 
more of her children. Children indeed, and young people in 
general, constitute one of the most attractive features of the 
house-parties at Sandringham, and the Prince is seen at his 
best when among them. I remember often silently wishing 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 27 

that some of his calumniators could have the opportunity of 
watching him surrounded by a group of merry and affectionate 
children, in all of whose sports he is wont to join in the most 
boyish and unconstrained manner. For it is sufficient to 
banish from one's thoughts all unkindly feeling, as well as all 
belief in the stories which set him down as a selfish and heart- 
less libertine. Children are proverbially the best judges of 
character, and in order to form an estimation of the manner 
in which the Prince is regarded by them, it is only necessary 
to hear with what degree of tenderness all his numerous 
nephews and nieces talk of " Uncle Bertie." 

Another phase of the Prince's life which affords an indica- 
tion of his character is his behavior to the Princess. I am 
fully aware that there are many, on both sides of the At- 
lantic, who regard Her Royal Highness with feelings of com- 
miseration, and who look upon her as a woman deeply in- 
jured by the innumerable infidelities ascribed to the Prince. 
The pity of these sympathizers has been, however, alto- 
gether wasted, for I do not know of any couple who through- 
out thirty years of married life have maintained such intimate 
and lovine relations to one another — relations which consti- 
tute the best refutation of all the calumnies circulated about 
the Prince. When at Sandringham, and at Marl borough- 
House, the Royal Couple invariably occupy the same room 
— a trivial bit of information, yet indicative of the feelings 
that exist between husband and wife. For it is manifest that 
had one-thousandth part of the stories about the Prince's de- 
pravity been true, the Princess, who is a woman of far more 
spirit than she is credited with, would never tolerate such 
intimacy. 

Quite a number of these stories owe their origin to ladies 



128 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

who desire to have their names coupled with his. It is per- 
fectly impossible for any one who has not witnessed it to con- 
ceive the absolutely flagrant manner in which ladies, even of 
the highest rank, set their caps at him and hunt him down 
like a quarry. At balls, garden parties, race meetings, etc., 
the whole aim of the fair sex present is to have their presence 
noticed by the Heir Apparent, who, apart from his power as 
autocrat of English society, possesses the most gracious and 
winsome manner imaginable. He has the reputation, and 
justly so, of being an admirer of the fair sex, and hence the 
members of the latter are wont to put forth all their charms 
and wiles in attempts to obtain the privilege of basking in the 
Royal Sunshine. Nothing can be more entertaining than to 
watch one of these fair ones with cheeks flushed and eyes 
charofed with mao-netism, bendinor forward to the Prince. 
" No harm meant " — but they are prepared to go many 
lengths to obtain, and after that to retain the special favor and 
good will of the genial despot. The Prince, who is the es- 
sence of good nature, seldom repels these gushing demon- 
strations of the dame, and the result is that fresh stories are 
hinted forth to the effect that the Lady A, or Mrs, B, has 
become another victim of His Royal Highness's depravity. 

Many persons on reading this will feel disposed to inter- 
rupt me with the remark, " But what about Lady Mordaunt ? " 
In reply thereto I would merely draw their attention to the 
fact that the Prince declinlnor to avail himself of his leg^al im- 
munltles and privileged station voluntarily entered the wit- 
ness box, submitted both to examination and cross-examina- 
tion by counsel, and was finally acquitted by a jury composed 
of his countrymen. Like many members of London society, 
he is on terms of friendship with Lady Mordaunt as well as 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 29 

with her sisters, the Countess of Dudley, the Duchess of 
Athole, and Lady Forbes. In consequence of the etiquette 
which prohibits the presence of any other visitors during- a 
Royal afternoon call, the Prince generally saw Lady Mor- 
daunt alone, and hence had peculiar difficulty in justifying 
himself He was placed in an exceptionally painful position 
from which he issued with flying colors and increased popu- 
larity. 

While on the subject of the Prince's appearance before 
Courts of Justice, it may be as well to say a few words con- 
cerning the circumstances which led to his only other acte de 
presence in the witness box. Of course, I refer to the much- 
discussed baccarat scandal. While it is quite possible and 
even probable that the unfortunate and impardonable be- 
havior of the Wilson family in the matter was prompted by a 
malice and a hatred towards Sir William Gordon Cumming, 
which prevented them from acting with either discretion, tact 
or hospitality in the affair, it is altogether a mistake to waste 
any sympathy upon the Baronet. But few people are aware 
of the fact that when the charge of cheating at cards brought 
against him first became known, his brother officers of the 
Scots Guards Regiment met togefher and offered him to form 
themselves into a private and non-official Court of Inquiry. 
They added that the honor of the Regiment was at stake and 
that on this ground as well as on that of old comradeship they 
were anxious that he should furnish them with means of con- 
vincing all others of their firm belief in his innocence, thus 
enabling each officer of the corps to become a champion of 
his (Gordon Cumming's) cause, and of his honor. Notwith- 
standing their assurance that the inquiry should be conducted 
with entire secrecy and not as an official investigation, but as 



I30 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



a private endeavor on the part of a number of good and true 
fellows to get a friend out of a scrape into which he had be- 
come involved by signing the promise never to play cards 
ao-ain. Sir William declined the offer. It was then, and then 
only, that his fellow-officers and former friends cut loose from 
him, for his refusal was equivalent to a confession of guilt. 
Moreover, I doubt whether many women will continue to feel 
sympathy for him when they learn that his habit of bragging 
about his gallantries and his liaisons had led to his being 
dubbed in London with the significant nickname of "Wil- 
liam Tell." 

Far from ever being guilty of disloyalty to a friend — a 
charge which was brouo-ht ao;ainst him in connection with Sir 
William Gordon Gumming, the Prince's one great fault 
throughout his life has been that his loyalty has led him to 
cling to friends that have proved themselves unworthy of the 
honor, and to persist in closing his eyes to the shortcomings 
on their part that were patent to everybody else. No man 
that I have ever known has stuck more closely and loyally to 
his friends, a fact in itself sufficient to win for him the good 
will of every one possessed of proper feeling. Every mem- 
ber of his large household, from Lords-in-waiting and equer- 
ries, down to the very lowest stable-help and under-gardener, 
has been in his employ for ten, twenty, and in more than one 
case even thirty years. Few people who enter the service 
of the Prince either care or are forced to leave it, save only 
when they cover themselves with terrible disgrace, such as in 
the altogether exceptional case of Lord Arthur Somerset. 

The Prince of Wales when he comes to the throne will be 
an ideal constitutional Sovereign, far more so even than Queen 
Victoria, for whereas the latter has repeatedly manifested her 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. I3I 

very strong preferences for the Tories, the Prince has never 
throughout his long- career furnished the sHo-htest indication 
as to his political inclinations. Neither his friends and ac- 
quaintances, nor yet the public, have the remotest idea 
whether his tendencies are in the direction of the Conserva- 
tives or in that of the Liberals. Indeed no one can even 
boast of knowing how the Prince feels on the subject of Irish 
Home Rule. He displays just as much good-will, courtesy 
and attention towards Mr. and Mrs, Gladstone, as towards 
Lord and Lady Salisbury, and not a birthday of the Grand 
Old Man has ever been permitted to pass by without his re- 
ceiving a kindly telegram of good-will and congratulation from 
the Prince, whom the venerable Statesman, so often subjected 
to unmerited neglect by the Queen, must long to hail as King 
before called upon to intone his Nunc Dwiittis. This extra- 
ordinary impartiality displayed by the Prince in all political 
matters — a characteristic in which he offers a most striking 
contrast to every other Prince of Wales who has ever stood 
on the steps of the Throne — must not be in any way ascribed 
to indifference, for the Heir Apparent is far too good and 
true a Briton, to remain unmoved or uninterested by the 
political questions of his day. There is no more familiar 
figure than his, seated in the Peer's Gallery whenever an im- 
portant debate takes place in the House of Commons, and it 
is with every appearance of the most keen attention that he 
leans forward, his irreproachably gloved hands folded in one 
another, and resting on the balcony rail as he gazes down on 
the oftentimes tumultuous scene below. Moreover the For- 
eign Office in accordance with his request is wont to forward 
to Marlborough-House a copy of every despatch received or 
sent that is submitted to the Oueen. There is every reason 



132 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



to believe therefore that the Prince is quite as keen a politi- 
cian as the majority of Englishmen, and under the circum- 
stances the fact that he should have even in the moments of 
greatest popular excitement been able to maintain a de- 
meanor so impassive that no one could discover the direction 
of his sentiments affords an extraordinary and striking illus- 
tration of his wonderful power of self-control, of his marvel- 
lous tact, and his altogether unparalleled obedience to that un- 
written clause of the British Constitution which demands 
strict political impartiality on the part of the Sovereign either 
in esse or in ftituro. 

Throughout the last five and twenty years there has not 
been a single philanthropic or charitable enterprise of any 
importance which has not been indebted to the Prince of 
Wales for vital assistance, and in numerous cases for initia- 
tion. He renders charity and philanthropy fashionable, and 
many hundreds of thousands of pounds have been devoted 
by wealthy persons to good works in the knowledge that 
there was no surer road to the Prince's favor than unstinted 
and free-handed charity. It was with the object of pleasing 
the Prince that Sir Francis Cook, the London merchant, gave 
$200,000 towards the endowment of a home for girls attend- 
ing the Royal College of Music, and it was with the same 
purpose in view that the great building contractor, Sir Thomas 
Lucas, constructed and presented a building worth another 
$200,000 for use as the home in question. Both men earned 
the Prince's good will, which took the form of a couple of 
Baronetcies. The number of hospitals which have been 
founded by the Heir Apparent, or which have been assisted 
by him either with direct donation or with appeals to the pub- 
lic, reaches gver a hundred, and up to this time the Prince has 



THE kOYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



133 



brought into life no less than forty Orphanages, Moreover, 
he is responsible, in a great measure, for the enormous devel- 
opment of the art of industry and trade which has followed 
the various national and international exhibitions held in 
Great Britain under the patronage, and in many cases, under 
the personal and active direction of the Heir Apparent. With 
such a record as the one which I have attempted to describe, 
it is impossible to do otherwise than to admit the claims of 
the Prince to have a place not alone in the hearts of his 
countrymen, but also in the history of the nation, His life, 
which may at first sight appear to superficial observers frivo- 
lous, useless, and altogether wasted in selfish pleasures, will 
now bear a different aspect in their eyes. Few men, and 
certainly no Princes, are able to have the consciousness of 
having done so much, both directly and indirecdy, to improve 
the condition of their fellow-creatures — aye, and of the dumb 
animals as well. While no one will ever dream of attempt- 
ing to canonize Albert Edward, and to include him in the 
list of more or less reputable Saints when he dies, I venture 
to assert that he will figure on the pages of the Great Book 
with far more good to his record than many a man with a 
greater reputation for Saintliness. The life of the Prince is 
an extremely useful one to his fellow-countrymen to whom he 
devotes it, and the benefits of his long work in their behalf 
are likely to endure, not alone in their hearts, but also in let- 
ters of gold on some of the brightest pages of the History 
of Enofland. 

More than any other Englishman, either in official or pri- 
vate life, is the Prince an advocate of the maintenance of the 
closest possible relations between Great Britain and the 
United States. His sentiments toward the latter seem to 



134 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

have dated from the period of his visit to America. One of 
the most memorable incidents of this visit by-the-by was 
when he, the orrandson of Kino- Georgre III, bowed his head 
in pra.yer before the tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon, 
and subsequently planted a tree in the adjoining ground for 
the purpose of commemorating his pilgrimage to that historic 
spot. No non-English people ever receive a more hearty 
welcome at Marlborough House than Americans, whom he 
prefers to regard not as foreigners but as kinsmen. Indeed, 
so marked is the predilection which he manifests for the so- 
ciety of Americans that his own subjects frequently allude to 
Marlborougrh House as the " Yankee Mecca." 

A peculiarity of the Prince of Wales is the amazing fashion 
in which he keeps a clear head under the most trying circum- 
stances. The following amusing account, of which the truth 
is vouched for, is given of the scene which took place with 
the Prince on the occasion of the earthquake along the 
Riviera. 

It appears that His Royal Highness had come back in the 
early morning from a dance, and after a quiet half cigar on 
the balcony — the night was exquisite — had gone to bed and 
very soon fell asleep. The hotel was silent, as usual, the 
only sound upon the air being the distant rumble of the bag- 
gage-car on its way to the station, and the occasional wail of 
a cor de chasse, which some night-walking wretch down on the 
Promenade de la Croisette was fitfully and tipsily blowing. 
And then all of a sudden came the earthquake. Every room 
in the hotel groaned with its walls, creaked with its floor and 
rattled with its furniture. All the dogfs in it howled toeether, 
and the noisy macaw in the manager's office screeched at the 
top of his voice. Then came a lull, as sudden as the disturb- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. I35 

ance, and the smothered sound of many shppered feet and 
soft rustHng dressing-gowns were hurrying along the corridors 
and down the marble stairs. And the Prince ? At the first 
suggestion of danger his faithful equerry, Col. Clarke, bounded 
out of bed, and making his way across the smoking saloon 
knocked at the door of the Prince's bedroom : 

" What's the matter ? " asked a drowsy voice, 

"There's an earthquake come, Sir," was the shouted reply. 

" Then why didn't you send it away ? " was the Royal 
answer. 

"Won't you come outside. Sir?" 

"Outside? No, certainly not. I'm in bed. Go away." 

The equerry, his duty performed, followed the hurrying 
crowd out into the open air, under the deep blue sky and 
tranquil stars. After an hour of this peaceful scene, alarm 
died away and every one had returned to the hotel to dress 
when the second shock came, driving them all out again into 
the garden. 

The equerry's thoughts again at once flew to the sleeping 
Prince. The Heir Apparent to the Throne of Great Britain 
was, in a measure, in his special charge. How had he ac- 
quitted himself of his sacred stewardship ? A twinge of con- 
science made him feel uncomfortable as he sat out there in 
the still garden on an inverted watering-pot, expecting the 
tall chimneys of the diplomat's house across the square to 
come toppling down over him. He had not aroused the 
Prince at the second shock. So he got up, returned to the 
hotel, and, passing through the public rooms — His Royal 
Highness was on the eround floor, in a sort of annex, that 
projected into a private flower-planted court — reached the 
Prince's door and knocked. There was no response. He 



136 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

knocked again. Still no answer. A third, louder than be- 
fore, loud enough in fact to rouse all the seven sleepers. But 
still no answering voice. And then the horrid truth, sudden 
as was the earthquake shock, flashed into the wretched 
equerry's mind. Something was wrong. Had the Prince 
perished ? 

In an instant he had flung the door open and dashed across 
the ante-room. The curtains at the door of the bed chamber 
were drawn close together. With a frenzied hand he seized 
them and drew them apart. As he did so, something, but 
whether an aerolite, a thunder-bolt, or a falling beam, he knew 
not, struck him full in the face. 

Strange lights danced before his eyes. His head swam, and 
in a momentary faintness he leant against the door. But the 
next moment a voice fell on his ear, grave and reproachful : 
" Look here, Clarke, I won't have any more of this, and if 
you don't shut up making that beastly row and let me go to 
sleep, I'll shy the other boot at you." 

The Prince does not as a rule, I must confess, find the at- 
mosphere of the continental courts congenial, and he fails to 
hit it off with any of the Monarchs now reigning. He does 
not get on well for any length of time with his nephew, the 
Emperor of Germany. 

The Emperor of Austria, who was once fond of him, has 
become exceedingly cold and distant toward him since the 
scandal in connection with his attempt to force the company 
of Baron Hirsch upon the various members of the Austrian 
and Hungarian aristocracy, who made preparation to enter- 
tain him. 

Neither King Humbert nor the Czar, nor yet the young 
King of Portugal, has ever liked him, while it is antipathy 



THE ROVaL family OV GREAt BRITAIN. 137 

rather than sympathy that exists between King Leopold and 
his Enghsh cousin, the Prince of Wales. 

With all this, few people enjoy more universal popularity 
among the people at large in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and Rome, 
than the British Heir Apparent. 

The reason of the ill-will, manifested in a more or less silent 
fashion by the various Monarchs of Europe toward the Royal 
Welshman, is attributable mainly to the fact that they, one 
and all, regard him as too careless of his princely dignity, 
and altogether too free and easy and sans facon. 

The fact is that the Prince of Wales is altog-ether too un- 
affected and too little poseur to suit their tastes. Continental 
rulers are almost invariably in uniform, belted, spurred, 
sabred and decorated, and that the Prince should prefer a pot 
hat, a shooting jacket and a cane to regimentals is to them 
altogether inexplicable. 

They seem to like what may be termed the theatrical and 
decorative part of their work. They want to show the peo- 
ple that they govern, and from morning to evening they are 
at "attention," in full regimentals. 

The majority of them would no more think of going about 
their capitals without some distinctive mark of their rank than 
Leo XIII. would of taking off his white cassock and of don- 
ning a derby hat and tweed suit for a stroll on the Corso, 
with a cigarette between his lips. 

Pomp, parade and show are the very breath of their life, 
whereas there is nothingr that the Prince of Wales detests so 
much. He is far more of the world than one who aims to be 
above the world. Ceremony and all the theatrical portion 
of Royalty are to him an insufferable bore, and he infinitely 
prefers a good cigar and a chat with a pretty woman or a 



I^g WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

clever man to galloping about, reviewing troops or presiding 
over state functions. 

In a word, the Prince of Wales, in the eyes of the Conti- 
nental Sovereigns, permits his role as the private gentleman 
and the leader of society to encroach too largely on his Royal 
dignity. 

In this, however, it is he who is right, and they who are 
wrong, for, as the arbiter of English society, of the entire so- 
cial system of the British Empire, the Prince exercises a far 
greater and more real power than any foreign despot. 

The very strongest proof of the truth of my assertion is 
furnished by the acknowledged fact that he is able to maintain 
his rank and to possess intimate friends among his future sub- 
jects without being forced to adopt any of the safeguards 
that are needed by the European Monarchs to protect their 
dignity from the presumption and impertinence of inferiors. 

There are few^ European Sovereigns who venture to address 
a subordinate in rank without imparting to their voice and to 
their manner a kind of condescending tone, with a view of 
thoroughly keeping the person with whom they are speaking 
at a distance and in his proper place. 

There are some potentates indeed who even go so far as 
to assume almost a baby voice, as if speaking to a child, when 
addressing an Inferior and wishing to be particularly amiable 
and pleasant. 

With the Prince of Wales, however, there is no necessity 
for any such manoeuvres as these. 

He has no need of affecting condescension, and when he 
does condescend, he conceals the fact with the greatest deli- 
cacy and tact. With all this, he is the last to tolerate pre- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



139 



sumption, but so careful and so diplomatic is his manner that 
he has scarcely ever been exposed thereto. 

Cards are not the only amusement patronized by the Prince 
of Wales. He is exceedingly fond of shooting, and a first- 
rate shot. He contrives, however, to get the largest amount 
of sport possible with the least amount of exertion. His per- 
sonal attendants are given the benefit of most of the exercise, 
and His Royal Highness gets the fun. 

Unconsciously, the Heir Apparent is most exacting when 
out for a day's shooting, and wants more waiting upon than a 
woman in delicate health. " Just do this," and " Just do that," 
are his constant commands, and the end of the day finds his 
victims weary beyond expression and fit for nothing but bed. 

The joke is that the Prince always looks perfectly innocent 
of the undue demands he is making upon the endurance of 
those about him, and having escaped all exertion himself, 
cannot understand how it is that his companions are so 
fatigued. 

The Prince never liked cricket, at least never since the date 
of a memorable game organized specially for his entertain- 
ment shortly after he took up his residence at Sandringham, 
about five and twenty years ago. 

It was in this match that the Prince was to make his debut 
as a cricketer, and all the local magnates were present. It 
was Mr. Charles Wright who was the captain of the eleven 
opposing that of the Prince. 

Before the game commenced Mr. Wright carefully coached 
each one of his men on the necessity of letting the Prince 
have a chance and of helping him to run up a nice little score, 
which might conduce to that self-satisfaction so essential to 
enthusiasm in any pursuit. 



140 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

All went well until the Prince came to take his innings, 
when, Mr. Wright being the bowler, either forgetting his 
elaborate cautions to others, or else unable to resist the 
temptation to add to his fame, incontinently bowled his future 
King out with the first ball, and so ended forever the hopes 
of the Prince of Wales's patronage for the cricket fraternity. 
The Prince could never be prevailed upon to play again. 

Among the idiosyncrasies of the Prince of Wales, which 
those about to make his acquaintance would do well to know, 
is his invincible horror of black ties with evening dress. The 
sight of a man thus arrayed at any entertainment which he 
may happen to attend is sufficient to upset and to sour him 
for the entire evening, and in his eyes it is an unpardonable 
infraction of the laws of good taste and good form. 

The rural home at Sandring-ham of the Heir to the Throne 
of Britain lies in the warm sheltered hollow behind the range 
of low- wooded bluffs that line the southern margin of the 
Wash. From the low-lying station of Wolferton the road 
traversed by the visitors to Sandringham Hall gradually as- 
cends throuorh a reo-ion, the natural bleakness and barrenness 
of which is slowly and reluctantly yielding before the per- 
sistent energy of taste and skill. Carefully tended young 
plantations of fir and birch stud the undulating expanse of 
scrub and heather, and the quaint rustic gables of the " Folly " 
peep out from the heart of a clump of sturdy evergreens, 
backed up by well-grown and vigorous young pines, by the 
edge of which the Princess's favorite drive wends away to the 
left through the bushy copses of the Josceline wood that 
mantles the indented crest and undulating summit of the up- 
land ridge, looming down over the intermediate low-lying 
fields, farmsteadings and plantations upon the broad bosom 




Thk Duke ano Puchess of Fifb. 



142 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



of the great estuary. Presently the heather gives place to 
greensward, and the pine thickets are succeeded by the mossy 
boles and spreading branches of fine ancestral oaks and 
beeches, which but partially screen the view of the wide- 
stretching expanse of the home park, where the deer are pas- 
turing in the glades, and the water, set in a cincture of lux- 
uriant evergreens, gleams mirror-like in still glassy pools, or 
sparkles and tumbles over the picturesque rockwork of red- 
dish brown. Close on the left rises the hoary square tower 
of the quaint little Sandringham Church, within whose walls 
Prince and peasant worship together in the modest God's acre, 
surrounding which rest side by side the mortal remains of the 
babe of the blood royal and the child of the peasant. 

There is a glimpse, over the sward and the water and the 
rockwork, of the long, picturesquely broken garden front of 
the Hall — a mere passing gleam of warm red, here and there, 
hidden in the loving embrace of the dark-green ivy ; and 
then with a wide sweep the road turns the corner of the park, 
the beautiful " Norwich Gates," with their delicate ironwork 
tracery, are passed, and there remains but a short drive along 
a broad, straight avenue, lined on either side by massive old 
trees, to the principal entrance of the Hall. At a glance it is 
apparent that Sandringham is no stately palace where com- 
fort is a secondary consideration to splendor, where sumptu- 
ous suits of apartments bear the chilling impress of being un- 
inhabited and uninhabitable ; but a veritable English home, 
designed not for show, but to be lived in, every detail elo- 
quent of unostentatious taste and refined domesticity. The 
keynote to the theme of dulce donium (home, sweet home) is 
struck on the very threshold. In the inner wall of the vesti- 
bule above the Hall door is set a tablet bearing the inscription- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. I43 

in old English characters: "This house was built by Albert 
Edward, Prince of Wales, and Alexandra, his wife, in the year 
of our Lord 1870." The home-savor of Sandringham begins 
from the very door-step, for there is no formal entrance-hall. 
The vestibule is simply a part and portion of the great salon 
which may be called the family parlor of the house. This 
noble apartment has a lofty roof of open oakwork ; its walls 
are covered with pictures, and its area is almost encumbered 
with cosy chairs, occasional tables, pictures on easels, musi- 
cal instruments, flowers in stands, flowers in pots, flowers in 
vases, and a thousand and one pretty trifles, each one of 
which has an association and a history linked to it. Peering 
out from under the palm-fronds are two miniature cannon, 
which were a present from the late Emperor to the Royal 
children. Above Count Zichy's charming sketch in water 
colors, illustrative of the various phases of home-life at Sand- 
ringham, is a large picture of the birthplace of the Princess. 
Over the fire-place is Borlasc's oil painting of the Prince and 
Princess, with two of their children. The King and Queen 
of Denmark look down from the walls on the scene of the 
afternoon romp of their English grandchildren. On one of 
the round tables stands the casket in which the Sandringham 
tenantry inclosed their address of congratulation on the 
Prince's safe return from India. Above the arch of the vesti- 
bule facing the main entrance is fixed the beautiful, fierce head 
of the Chillingham bull, shot by the Prince in 1872, with 
Scott's fervid lines underneath: 



" Fierce on the hunter's quivered band 
He rolls his eye of swarthy glow, 
Spurns with black hoof and horn the sand 
And tosses high his mane of snow," 



144 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

From the salon opens the business room, occupied by Gen- 
eral Sir Dighton Probyn, V. C, the Controller of the Prince's 
household, and by Sir Francis Knollys, His Royal Highness's 
Private Secretary ; and in this room it is where the Prince 
transacts his correspondence, gives interview to other than 
social visitors, sees his tenants on questions of improvements 
— -for His Royal Highness shirks none of the obligations of a 
landed proprietor — and gives his personal instructions to his 
land steward, gardener and head-keeper. 

A plain room, furnished in a plain and business-like style, 
this apartment has for its sole embellishment a few portraits, 
among which may be mentioned those of the late Admiral 
Rous and of Field Marshal Lord Napier, of Magdala. On 
the right of the vestibule, as one enters the house, lies the 
library ; a pleasant room in blue and light oak, the shelves of 
which are filled with books belonging almost exclusively to 
the departments of history and travels. A whole compart- 
ment is devoted to works on the Crimean War, another to 
books — many of which are hard reading enough — on India, 
both British and native. The " Greville Memoirs " are sand- 
wiched between the " Nelson Dispatches " and the " Narra- 
tive of the Euphrates Expedition," and the " Seven Weeks' 
War" is in close proximity to the "Rise of the Mahometan 
Power in India," Through the equerry's room, the next of 
the suit, is reached the second library, which might appro- 
priately bear the name of the " Serapis Room," for it is full 
of the belongings of His Royal Highness during his voyages 
in the big troop-ship, and the familiar feathers in gold between 
the initials " A. E." meet the eye everywhere. 

This room opens into the vestibule of the garden-entrance, 
which, by reason of its proximity to the drawing-rooms, is 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 1 45 

always used on ball nights. From the main corridor stretch- 
ing to the great staircase there open, on the right, the princi- 
pal reception rooms ; but before these are reached there is 
passed the Prince's private morning room, a family room, 
pure and simple. The admixture of feminine and masculine 
tastes, of which this pretty room is, more than others in the 
house, an exemplar, speaks eloquently of lives blended in an 
accord of close-knit domesticity. The walls of cool neutral 
tint are partly decorated with rare china and pottery, partly 
paneled with crayon pictures of deer-stalking episodes in the 
Highlands by the most celebrated English painters of our day. 

A large windowed projection, which is in part a lounge, in 
part a boudoir, and in part a writing-room, is half partitioned 
off from the rest of the room by a screen devoted to the dis- 
play of family photographs, A truss of mignonette trees, 
with lilies of the valley blossoming around the bushy stem, 
half hides the panel on which Leighton's brush has depicted 
"The Bringing the Deer Home;" the spreading skin of a 
huge tiger, shot by the Prince in India, lies on a quilt-carpet 
of patchwork, which was a tribute of loving respect to the 
Princess from the children of one of the schools she finds 
time to foster with so much personal attention. 

From this room a door opens into the ante-room of the 
great drawing-room, a pretty little apartment in French grey, 
having for its chief ornament a large picture of the Emperor 
of Russia and the Prince driving together in a sledge, whose 
three horses, in a furious gallop, are fore-shortened with great 
skill and fine effect. 

The principal drawing-room, like all the rooms on this side 
of the house, looks out into the park, across the fiower beds, 
water and rockery, to where the antlered deer are browsing 



146 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



in the beech-glades. It is a room of fine proportions, the walls 
of which are in a pale salmon color, and its fixed decorations 
are studiously simple, consisting merely of a few mirrors^ 
placed panelwise, some floral mouldings, a painted ceiling and 
a single group of statuary. Mme. Jerichau's '' Bathing Girls " 
embrace each other on a pedestal, from around the base of 
which flowers and blossoming exotic shrubs rear the glories 
of their bloom and the quieter hue of their foliage against the 
pale marble. The sweet scent of spring violets nestling 
among moss perfumes the air, and there are flowers every- 
where ; indeed the whole house is a floral bovver, for the Prin- 
cess is passionately fond of flowers, and literally lives among 
them. A door-window of the drawing-room " gives " on a 
small domed conservatory projecting from the garden front 
of the house. Here the arched fronds of the palms form a 
sombre glory over the pedestal, upon which Jerichau's two 
white marble children press lip to lip within an encircling 
thicket of flowers, in which the orange of the euphorbia, the 
pale rose of the calanthe, the wax-like trusses of the white 
hyacinth, the gleaming scarlet of the poinsetia, the blushing- 
purple of the primula, and the fair pale sweetness of the lily 
of the valley at once vie and blend with each other. En suite 
with the drawing-room is the dining-room, a warm-tinted, 
genial-looking room, suggestive of comfort in its every item. 
A great bow window expands from the centre of its front, 
whence the light streams in upon Landseer's " Mare and Foal " 
above the oaken side-board. Over the fire-place, where the 
logs are blazing on the wide open hearth, is a full-length por- 
trait of the Prince in the blue-and-gold of the Tenth Hussars, 
" Unzer Fritz " and his Princess flank Landseer's chef-d' ceuvre 
on either side, and life-size portraits of the Princesses Alice 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



147' 



and Louisa hang on either side of the door opening from the 
drawino^-room. 

From the dining-room the way leads through a " Corridor 
of Weapons," where the " white arms " of all ages are ar- 
ranged in glass-fronted cabinets on the walls, to the billiard- 
room. Here the walls are brightened by Leech's inimitable 
hunting sketches, and there are three-side windows, set in ivy, 
looking out on the Italian gardens on the site of the old fish- 
ponds, and so athwart the park of the church. The annexed 
smokinor-room is the ante-chamber to the longr vista of the 
bowling alley, lighted both from sides and roof, with raised 
seats at the upper end, whence ladies may look down on the 
tournament of their squires. Beyond the bowling alley is a 
little room over which Macdonald reigns supreme — the gun- 
room, in whose glass-fixed cupboards are arranged shooting- 
irons in bewildering number and variety. 

The chief adornment of the main staircase is a fine portrait 
in oils of the Princess in riding-dress. Immediately at the 
top of the stairs a door opens to the right of the school- 
room, a Hght, pleasant room, in which flowers and photo- 
graphs compete for elbow room with school books and story 
books. The impulse is to pause here in this sketchy descrip- 
tion of the interior of Sandringham Hall, lest the going 
further savor of intrusiveness. Yet it is hard to shun a refer- 
ence to that beautiful room on the same floor, with its pale 
salmon-colored and French-gray walls ; its pink and lace 
hangings round the deep bay of the bow window; its medley 
of old China, photographs, water colors, dwarf palms, flowers ; 
its thousand and one pretty knick-knacks ; its singing birds; 
and with the indescribable, yet felt, although unseen, presence 
of delicate and refined womanhood which pervades the whole 



148 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

of the exquisite chamber. This is the boudoir of the Princess 
— the room that so grew into the heart of Her Royal High- 
ness, because of early grateful memories associated with it, 
that when Sandrin£ham Hall was rebuilt she made it her 
special stipulation that it should be reconstructed on " the 
ancient lines " in the minutest particular. No excuse is 
needed for an allusion to a room in the same corridor, be- 
cause of the deep historical interest which attaches to it. It 
is difficult, indeed, standing to-day in the big comfortable 
home-like chamber, whither, through the open door, comes 
the sonof of the linnets in the Princess' dressino-room ; 
whither, through the open bay window in the great recess be- 
yond the crimson Priedieu on the further side of the bed, 
with its hangings of blue and white to correspond with the 
tapestry paper on the walls, is wafted on the breeze the fresh, 
briny scent of the sea — it is difficult to realize the scene to 
which these silent walls could bear witness ; the time when 
the Prince, on this same bed, battled for breath in the very 
straits of the dark valley, while his dearest kinsfolks were 
gathered around for the sad, solemn duty of bidding him a 
final farewell, while in the corridor hushed retainers wept for 
the imminent untimely fate of one not less loved than hon- 
ored, and while outside in the snow-slush grief-stricken labor- 
ing folk longed yet feared for tidings of their " master." Yet 
there in the ceilinof above the bed is the mark of the orifice 
whence projected the hook supporting the trapeze cunningly 
devised by Bentley, and by the aid of which the Prince, when 
on the slow and weary road towards convalescence, was wont 
to change his recumbent position, or pull himself up into a 
sitting posture. 

During the shooting season the routine of Sandringham 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. t^g 

life has for variety little other than the change of scene and 
of sport. One day the battue may be Flitcham for partridge- 
driving; the next may be dedicated to the pheasants of the 
Commodore and Dersingham Woods; or the " hot corner" 
may be at the angle of Woodcock Wood, with the " Folly " 
as the luncheon rendezvous. The start is at 10.30, and, if 
there is any distance to be traversed, the gunners travel to 
the scene of their sport in the char-a-banc and wagonette. 
The Sandringham corps of beaters is forty strong, each mem- 
ber wearing a Norfolk smock-frock of brown fustian, with a 
number on a red badge. Luncheon is at two, served in a 
marquee in some convenient spot, and at this meal the Prin- 
cess, who drives to the trysting place her own four-in-hand 
team of pretty ponies, joins the gentlemen with the ladies 
who are her quests. Durinor the afternoon shootinof which 
takes the homeward direction, the ladies walk, or ride on 
pony-back, with the guns. Afternoon tea, to which all the 
guests join in the saloon, is one of the great institutions of 
Sandringham home-life. M, Zichy has sketched the scene of 
charming informal domesticity with appreciative felicity. The 
Prince, tea cup in hand, stands with his back to the vestibule 
fire, one of his sons and a group of his male friends standing 
about him. The Princess is at the tea-table, with one of her 
daughters by her side and a number of guests of both sexes 
around the board. An adult gentleman with a mustache is 
obviously flirting with a young lady, over whose flaxen curls 
quite seven summers must have passed. From 6 to 7.30 the 
Prince addresses himself to correspondence and business in 
Sir Francis Knollys's room ; but indeed there is hardly an 
hour in the day which His Royal Highness devotes wholly to 
pleasure, for his land steward generally accompanies him in 



t^6 WiTHiN ROYAL PALACfiS. 

shootlno- excursions, at hand to note suesfestions as to Im- 
provements which may occur to the Prince as he tramps over 
the estate. It is reputed of the Prince in Norfolk that no 
landlord in the country is better acquainted with the details 
of his property, and with a greater zeal for its improvement. 
The dinner hour is 8 London time, 8.30 Sandringham time, 
for the Prince will have Sandringham time half an hour fast, 
the better to insure " taking time by the forelock." On the 
dinner table the chief decorations are flowers brought fresh 
every night from the region of glass and heated air. On the 
birthday of His Royal Highness, afternoon tea gives place to 
a visit to the stable-yard, in one of the coach-houses of which 
all the laborers on the estate, some two hundred in number, 
are entertained at a "square meal" of the most substantial 
character. On the night of the same day occurs the annual 
country ball ; while on the night of the Princess' birthday is 
given the annual tenants' ball, to which are bidden not alone 
the tenantry of the Sandringham estate but representative 
tenants from the various properties which the Prince has 
visited in his shooting expeditions. 

The Sunday is the most characteristic day of the week at 
Sandringham. After luncheon the whole house-party walk 
out past the " Bachelor's Cottage," which is now being or- 
ganized as a separate residence for the Duke of York, to the 
kennels. A flock of foreign goats immediately beset the 
Princess, wise in their generation and in the full expectancy 
of tid-bits. There is a leisurely stroll through the pheasantry 
and along the snugly sheltered cages in which are housed the 
Nepaulese birds which were one of Sir Jung Bahadoor's 
gifts. The bear-pit looked down into, and the bears coaxed 
to climb the pole, the dogs claim attention. The noble Piima- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREAT BRITAIN. 151 

layan deerhounds are clamorous for liberation, and effusively 
grateful when that has been accorded — a boon which Her 
Royal Highness may extend to the shaggy Scotch terriers 
which have greeted her so noisily. The monkey-house can- 
not be passed over ; and then the party, with multitudinous 
dogs as eclaireurs, stroll away to the gardens. New Indian 
plants developing unexpected characteristics ; cacti from 
Rangoon flourishing like green bay trees, and rare flora from 
South America putting forth quaintly beautiful blossoms. 
From the hot-houses and gardens the pleasant peregrination 
is pursued to the farm-yard, where there is quite as great an 
embam^as de richesse in the way of things that ought to be seen 
and are seen, as in the kennels or the gardens, and where 
everything is as clean as a new pin. The big cross and the 
two dainty Devons that are in feeding for next year's Smith- 
field Club show are paraded and criticised; the pretty 
Alderney calves find admirers and connoisseurs among the 
ladies; and cart-horse stalls are found in the occupation of 
shaggy Heratee ponies, and of the team of pretty Corsicans 
which, with their miniature drag, were the Prince's parting 
present to the Princess on the day he left Sandringham for 
his Indian tour. 

From the Indian bullocks in the paddock it is but a step to 
the sheep-house, where the Southdowns are feeding for win- 
ning some more prizes, the certificates of which adorn the 
rafters of their snug abode. While the gendemen are tramp- 
ing it over the g-rass-land to the site of the new works which 
are presently to supply virgin spring water to the hall and its 
dependencies, the Princess is showing to her lady guests her 
dainty dairy, with the exquisite litde tea-room attached, whose 
panels are gradually filled up with vodve decorative tiles. 



152 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

There is no lack of occupation for days not devoted to 
sport. The laboring folk in Sandringham Parish have been 
all comfortably housed in model cottages, the reformation 
of the cottage architecture and accommodation of the Parish 
of Wolferton — an out-lying portion of the estate — has been 
steadily improved under the personal supervision of the 
Princess herself, who sets her face determinedly against defec- 
tive and unpicturesque homes for her laboring people. At a 
farm in his own hands in Wolferton Parish, the Prince has 
some fine pedigree short-horn stock, and is gradually rearing 
a herd whose influence must benefit his neighbors without the 
expenditure of sensational prices for the fancy of a particu- 
lar strain. Sandringham is the chosen rural home of their 
Royal Highnesses ; they have watched it grow into beauty as 
their children grow up around their own hearth. It is en- 
deared to them as the scene of much sweet serene happi- 
ness and also of some great sorrows, and in Sandringham it 
is given to them — nor do they forego the opportunity — to do 
much s^ood in this place they love so well. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

ITALY. 

THE character of Umberto I, second King of Italy, may 
be summed up in one single word which would go far 
toward explaining his acts, his preferences, and his faults. 
I mean the word courage. None of his long line of ancestors 
have been more thoroughly imbued with the motto of his 
house, '' Devant Savoiey No sovereiirn, however Q-lorious, 
has displayed so enthusiastic an admiration for bravery, and 
his calm appearance and somewhat distant manner are only 
due to a constant effort to suppress the longings of a nature 
apt to attract him to every danger. It is indeed unfortunate 
that he, the scion of a warrior race, whose education has 
been entirely military, should have been forced by circum- 
stances to become a mere constitutional monarch. At the 
battle of Custozza, in 1866, he was at the head of the ad- 
vance guard, among the first to throw himself into the ranks 
of the enemy, whence he was only rescued with the greatest 
difficulty by General Nino Bixio. Instead of being grateful 
to the latter, he apostrophized him, rudely exclaiming : 

" I will never forgive you for not having allowed me to 
fight my way out of the difficulty by myself." King Hum- 
bert's warm sympathy for Germany is due to his peculiar 
temperament. He loves victory not for the sake of conquest, 
but for the sake of its glory. A victorious army appears to 
him as the most enviable jewel in a sovereign's crown. 
French people reproach the King with ingratitude. I do not 
believe that he wished France to be defeated in 1870, but I 

(153) 



If^ WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

am certain that his feelings toward France would have been 
entirely different had the latter been victorious on any occa- 
sion during the war. The one thing he could not forgive 

was that she should 
have allowed her- 
self to be beaten. 
Another reason 
why he does not 
like France is in 
consequence of the 
i 1 1-d i s s e m b 1 e d 
hopes of the French 
clerical party, that 
he may soon be 
driven ou t o f 
Rome. 

At Naples, dur- 
ing the cholera, his 
conduct was splen- 
did, and aroused 
the greatest enthu- 
siasm on the part of 
the people. When 
he fearlessly visited 
the worst cases, the 
dirtiest slums, he 
was extremely 
amazed to find his conduct praised. Again and again he 
repeated, almost impatiently, "I have done nothing but 
my duty." Again when Passanante attempted to assas- 
sinate him, he showed the greatest coolness and courage. 




UMBERTO I, SECOND KING OF ITALY. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY, 



155 



A thorough Piedmontese, he Is a perfect gentleman in 
every sense of the word, a splendid cavalry officer, serious, 
grave, and reserved. He has a holy horror of brag, exag- 
geration, and superlative epithets. The difference be- 
tween the characters of the people in the North and South 
of Italy is that of fire and water, and this will go far to ex- 
plain His Majesty's lack of sympathy for the Southern por- 
tions of his dominions. Like his grandfather and his father, 
his education has been exclusively military, and like them he 
has never really understood the real meaning of politics. 
The various political parties are considered more in the light 
of a game of cards, and parliamentarism is only liked on 
account of the excitement of the game. The misfortune of 
this is that notwithstanding the cleverness which he displays 
in handling the parliamentary cards, nothing is ever consid- 
ered in the broad-minded, intellectual, and moral point of 
view. Too much importance is given to intrigues, and to the 
personality of individuals. 

King Humbert always makes a point of reading all the 
newspapers in order to keep himself au courant of public 
opinion. His Majesty, however, never takes up a book. 
Like his forefathers he knows nothing of political philosophy. 
But this is more than compensated by the fact that he is a 
singularly upright man, and gifted with a rare amount of 
common sense. The King hates talking politics, and as 
a rule, avoids conversations with politicians. He loathes 
theories and always wants to be placed face to face with 
facts. 

He is of an exceedingly generous nature. He likes jewels 
and has presented magnificent ones to the Queen, but, like 
his ancestors, he has absolutely no artistic tastes. He scarcely 



156 



WttHlN ROYAI. PALACES. 



knows a Raphael from a Rubens, and like his father and 
grandfather hates all music except that of the trumpet and 
the drum. Like most of the Princes of his family, his sympa- 
thies are more in accord with the masses than with the aris- 
tocracy. He needs to make no effort in order to be cordial 
with the mob, and displays almost as much graciousness in 




PRIVATE DRAWING-ROOM OF THE KING. 



conversinor with the lower classes as he would in talking with 
his equals. This is why he is often nicknamed Le Roi des 
Marmottes. 

He is essentially a democratic monarch, and rather a per- 
fect gentleman than a grand seigneur. In his youth he was 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. jr^ 

always exceedingly delicate in health and appearance, and he 
remained somewhat frail-looklnor and small in stature. 

One day, during the lifetime of his father, a newly-arrived 
diplomat was stupid enough to mistake King Victor Eman- 
uel's illegitimate son, the Marquis de Mirafiori, for Prince 
Humbert. The Re Galaut 'uorno immediately turned on 
him and shouted with a thundering voice for the edification of 
the gamekeepers and surrounding crowd : " No, no, that is 
the Prince ; this is Mirafiori ; look at him ; it is the blood of 
kings mingled with that of the people." 

King Humbert, however, possesses a very elegant figure, 
his manners are easy, while somewhat cold. He is a splendid 
horseman — the beau-ideal, in fact, of a cavalry officer. 

At one time he smoked to excess; but his doctors having 
prescribed abstention from tobacco, he has now completely 
renounced the habit. It is related that when the advice was 
given that he should give up smoking for a time, he answered, 
" On my kingly honor, I will never smoke again." And he 
has kept his word. 

Without leading the mountaineer's life affected by his father, 
his greatest pleasure consists in passing whole weeks under 
canvas in the mountains of the valley of Aosta, stalking the 
chamois and subsisting on the same simple fare as the peas- 
ants. He rises at early dawn, and confronts all weathers with 
the utmost indifference. Even when dressed in civilian cos- 
tume he does not hesitate to allow a heavy downpour to wet 
him to the skin rather than put up an umbrella, nor does he 
shrink from standing for hours, if need be, under the scorch- 
ing rays of the sun on the occasion of some popular fete, 
mocking at those who seek shade and shelter. 

One of Umberto's first acts on ascending the throne earned 



158 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



for him well-merited praise. As is well known, Victor Em- 
manuel was most extravagant, not so much with regard to 
the gratification of his personal tastes as to his charities. His 
open-handedness, indeed, knew no bounds. It was found on 
his death that his debts were very considerable, and it was 

proposed by Parlia- 
ment that these should 
be paid by the State. 
This, however, Um- 
berto resolutely re- 
fused, declaring that 
his father's debts were 
his own, and that he 
should undertake the 
liquidation thereof. 

In 1878, an attempt 
to assassinate King 
Umberto was made by 
an Italian named Gio- 
vanni Passanante, a 
cook by occupation, 
and 29 years of age. 
The King, accompa- 
nied by the Queen 
Marguerite, the young 
Prince of Naples, and 
Premier Cairoli, had arrived at Naples at twenty minutes after 
two o'clock, and was given a most enthusiastic reception by 
all orders of the populace. The royal carriage stopped for a 
moment to enable a delegation to present a petition to the 
King, when Passanante, who had been carrying a banner in 




MARGUERITE, QUEEN OF ITALY. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. I c^g 

the trade processions which were taking part in the recep- 
tion, rushed forward with a dagger and succeeded in inflict- 
ing a sHght scratch upon King Humbert's left arm. Signor 
CairoU seized the would-be assassin by the hair, and received 
a wound in the left thigh, while the King whipped out his 
sword and struck the culprit on the head. The Queen and 
the young Prince of Naples retained their presence of mind 
in a wonderful manner, and altogether the royal party be- 
haved with great coolness and courage. A captain of cuiras- 
siers ended the struggle by seizing the culprit, who was 
promptly consigned to prison. He had no excuse to offer 
except that he was poor, and " did not like kings." He fur- 
ther averred that he belonged to no society, and if he told the 
truth in this resfard, neither the Socialists nor the Red Re- 
publicans of the day, nor even the organized Carbonari of the 
past were to blame, as organizations, for the attempted 
assassination. 

Since the great Democratic upheaval in 1848, there have 
been numerous attempts, successful and otherwise, to assas- 
sinate hereditary rulers in Italy. The list begins with an 
attack upon the Duke of Modena on November 26th, 1848 ; 
and then came an attack on the late King Victor Emmanuel 
on April i6th, 1853, while he was ruler of Sardinia only ; the 
killing of Ferdinand-Charles III, Duke of Parma, on March 
20th, 1854, by an unknown man, who stabbed him in the 
abdomen ; and the stabbing of Ferdinand III, King of Naples, 
on December 8th, 1856, by a soldier named Angesilas Milano, 
who used his bayonet in the murderous work. Italians have 
also figured during the same period in three different con- 
spiracies against the late Emperor of the French — three 
Italians attempted to end his earthly career in 1857, the fa- 



l5o THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 

mous Orsini plot of 1858, and another tripartite conspiracy 
by the Itahans against him in 1862. 

The only person given to extravagance at the present 
Court is perhaps the Queen, who shares with her country- 
women an inordinate love of dress — a matter in which she 
unfortunately sets her subjects a bad example, encouraging 
them yet further to dress beyond their means. 

At the last Court Ball of the season this year, Queen 
Marguerite was, as usual, the belle of they9/^, and her dress 
was remarkably elegant and becoming. It was one which no 
one but so perfect a beauty as Her Majesty could have ven- 
tured to wear. The train was of pale green faille, trimmed 
all around with a raised pattern of leaves in varied and 
darker shades of green. An underskirt of a still paler shade, 
visible only at one side, was embroidered with gold. Her 
Majesty wore long gloves of the very latest shades of cafe- 
au-lait. A coronet of diamonds and large emeralds, sur- 
mounting her superb hair, and a splendid necklace, bracelets, 
and shoulder clasps of the same gems made up this truly 
regal toilette. The emeralds were indeed the subject of uni- 
versal admiration, being of great size and beauty and har- 
monizing perfectly with the details of the dress. This mag- 
nificent get-up, with the jewels to match, were a present 
from the King, who is exceedingly proud of his wife's re- 
markable beauty, and is never so pleased as when she is 
dazzling the eyes of all who attend the Court functions. The 
ceremonial of an Italian Court Ball is at once graceful and 
essentially hospitable. 

Ranged round three sides of the ball-room are a triple row 
of crimson-cushioned sofas, behind which a certain space is 
left clear. The ladies, as they enter, are conducted to these 



1 62 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

seats by the masters of ceremonies, while their attendant 
cavaUers take up their position in several ranks behind them. 
All the guests are, of course, expected to have assembled be- 
fore the entrance of the King and Queen, and the ladies rise 
as a few bars of the Royal march announce the arrival of their 
Majesties. They are preceded by the chamberlains and at- 
tended by their ladies and gentlemen-in-waiting. 

The Royal chairs of State are placed on a raised crimson 
dais in the centre of one of the sides of the room. The King 
leads his wife to her seat and, as she quits his arm, she makes 
him a graceful obesiance before sitting down. Queen Mar- 
guerite is really remarkable for the grace and finely-gradu- 
ated meaning of all her ceremonial salutations, and her mode 
of curtseying to the King in public especially is always quite 
perfect. The King does not sit down, but remains standing 
near Her Majesty. Queen Marguerite then bows to all the 
company, taking the three sides of the room, one after an- 
other, bows which say so expressively: "You are all wel- 
come ; pray, sit down !" that the signs of the masters of the 
ceremonies inviting the ladies to resume their seats are hardly 
necessary. The King never dances, but the Queen opens 
the ball by dancing the quadrille d'honneur with one of the 
Ambassadors, and after that general dancing is carried on 
according to the programme. The dance favor presented 
to the ladies on entering is usually quite a little work of art 
in velvet, satin, silver, etc., the one prepared for the Queen 
being identical in design, although more richly ornamented. 

T^arly in life tlie Queen was very delicate, and so thin as to 
be almost transparent; but in the course of years she has 
grown stouter, and now may be said to be almost too stout 
for beauty. She knows both German and Italian literature 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 



163. 



well, is fond of music, and sings herself with taste and feeling. 
She likes the society of men of thought and letters, and at her 
intimate evening teas may be met some of the leading men 
of the land, who drop into chat away an hour without cere- 
mony. 

The Italians have a sort of sentimental cultus for their 




BOUDOIR OF QUEEN MARGUERITE. 



Queen ; her name, Marguerite (Daisy), is symbolized in many 
ways, and the daisy occurs in every form of festive decoration. 
Her own favorite emblem is the pearl, of which she wear? 
strings upon strings around her neck, so that by her rows of 
pearls the Queen can always be recognized if by no other 
sign. Every year these rows of pearls grow richer, for the 



164 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



King, who shares the Queen's semi-barbarian love of precious 
stones, adds annually a string to the precious necklet, until it 
now descends far below her waist, and has really lost some of 
its eleofant and decorative character. 

Whilst talking of the jewels of Queen Marguerite of Italy, 
it may be worth while mentioning that the Queen Regent of 
Spain owns the very finest pearl in the universe. It is called 
the Peregrina, and was fished up in the year 1560 by a negro 
boy. The latter considering the oyster almost too small to be 
worth opening, was about to throw it back into the sea. But 
thinking better of his resolve he pulled the shells asunder, 
and found between them the priceless jewel, which at present 
forms the most valuable ornament of the Spanish regalia. 
The master of the little negro boy presented it to King Philip 
II, but it was not recorded what remuneration was given in 
return. 

The King and Queen of Italy are a most devoted couple, 
and Umbsrto relies much on his wife's judgment, which is 
both clear and sound. Some pretty anecdotes are told of their 
domestic life. Thus the Queen was anxious that her husband 
should follow the example of his father, and the fashion among 
early Piedmontese officers, and dye his hair, which has become 
quite white. Her pleadings were in vain. Umberto's is an 
honest nature, that does not love these subterfuges. Seeinof 
entreaties were in vain, the Queen had recourse to stratao-em. 
She caused a quantity of fine hair-dye to be sent from Paris 
and put in the King's dressing-room, together with directions 
for its use, making, however, no allusion to the subject. The 
King, too, said nothing, though he could not fail to see the 
pigments. Now the Queen has a large white poodle of which 
she is very fond. Whc'\t w^s her horror, a kw days later, to 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. igr 

see her pet come running into her room with his snowy locks 
of the deepest black hue. King Umberto had expended the 
dyes upon changing the color of the poodle's hair ! From that 
day forth the subject of hair-dyeing was dropped between the 
Royal couple. 

On yet another occasion the husband gave the wife one of 
those quiet rebuffs into which enters a sense of humor, and 
which are on that account less hard to bear. It appears that 
Umberto once asked one of the Queen's secretaries what 
would be an acceptable Christmas present for Her Majesty. 
This orentleman, a truer friend than courtier, had the couraee 
to suggest to the King that the Queen had a large number of 
unpaid milliners' and dressmakers' bills. The King took the 
hint, and begged that they should all be given to him. On 
Christmas morning Umberto placed all these bills, receipted, 
under the Queen's table-napkin. There was no other pres- 
ent ! It is said that she took the hint, and has been less ex- 
travagant since. 

The Queen has built herself a chalet in the Alpine Valley 
of Gressonay, where she spends perhaps the pleasantest days 
of the year every summer. 

As soon as the sovereign arrives there she adopts the 
costume of the country, which is very picturesque, consisting 
of a skirt of fine scarlet cloth ; attached to the skirt is a 
bodice, without sleeves, of the same cloth, covering a 
chemisette of white muslin, with hi^h neck and lonof sleeves; 
over this, when it is cold, is worn a smart, short jacket of 
black cloth, bound with silver braid, or embroidered with the 
same, and a black silk apron. A prettier and more becoming 
costume cannot be seen. On the head the Gressonaises 
wear a sort of gold cap ; that is, a band of gold, richly en- 



166 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



graved on the forehead, and over this a sort of sparkling 
diadem, also of gold ; but, of course, all the Gressonaises do 
not wear this, as it is very heavy and cosdy. Most of the 
women wear a black silk handkerchief round the head, as in 
Southern Italy; but the Queen prefers a black veil. The 
Queen receives no visitors. Those families who are in the 




QUEEN marguerite's BED-ROOM. 

neighborhood write their names in a book kept for that pur- 
pose in the ante-room, out of politeness ; but they do not see 
Her Majesty. If they meet her on the road, Marguerite 
bows to them, and nothing more. 

On Sundays and fete days the Queen goes to hear mass 
at the village church at eleven o'clock — the so-called 
Queen's Mass. Her Majesty wears the usual costume, and 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. I57 

goes and kneels down close to the high altar. She appears 
to pray most fervendy among her faithful mountain friends. 
An old organ with a thin, soft tone plays old melodies of the 
hills, and after mass the Priest blesses the Queen and the 
people. To an ancient air two choristers sing the " Tantum 
ergo," and during the benediction the congregation draw out 
of their pockets small wax lights, and burn them while the 
Monstrans is held up alike over the heads of the Queen and 
the contadini. Another interesting- moment is the comino- 
out of the church, when Her Majesty stops to talk a few 
minutes with the people she knows ; but it is soon over, and 
the pretty red dress moves off and disappears over the little 
bridge and through the iron gate of the villa. In the after- 
noon, sweet songs are heard in the valley, and if it be not 
rainy or windy, in the evening bonfires are lit on the hills as 
a sign of respect of the simple villagers for their Queen, thus 
biddincr her azi-revov' and grood nio;ht. 

The Prince of Naples, eldest son of the King of Italy, is a 
very charming young fellow, although far too small in stature 
to be called handsome. The idolized son of his mother, he 
has inherited from her the charm of manner that won from 
her loving subjects the name of the " Pearl of Savoy ;" from 
his father a rectitude and unswerving integrity which are not 
the least characteristic of his race. 

The King, who has a vast deal of common-sense, insisted 
on the strong, practical elements of his education ; the Queen, 
by her presence and solicitude, invested It with a soft poeti- 
cal grace. 

He had foreign nurses and an excellent English governess 
in his childhood, the best masters as he grew older ; he could 
speak three languages fluently when other children barely 



i68 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



lisp their own, and, far from being indulged because he was 
Heir to the Throne, he was early taught that less immunities 
and greater efforts were his lot in life. 

Good examples have not been wanting. From his boy- 
hood he has seen his parents conscientiously fulfilling their 

duties, sacrificing their 
tastes and inclinations 
to the exigencies of 
royalty, forsaking their 
well-beloved Monza, the 
most perfect residence 
in the fertile plains of 
Lombardy, to visit in 
rotation Turin, Florence, 
Rome, and Naples, and 
in each city, in each 
province, making their 
name respected and 
their sovereignty 
revered. Prince Victor 
Emmanuel worships his 
beautiful mother, and 
the ties that unite them 
are closer and more 
tender than is often the 
case even in the private 
domestic circle. Unbounded confidence exists in their inter- 
course, spontaneous on one side, unexacting on the other. 
They understand each other with a word, a look, a mute 
pressure of the hand, and when their eyes meet they have a 
touching, tender glance, which is almost a caress. 




CROWN PRINCE OF ITALY. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 1 69 

Queen Marguerite has had the courage not to spoil her son 
by over-indulgence. She has carried out, or allowed her 
husband's system to be carried out, and by her judicious 
training has developed the truthfulness and respect for his 
word which the King so highly prizes. The young Prince 
has given many instances of his steadfast loyalty and affec- 
tion for his mother; insignificant little traits, perhaps, but 
showing sufficiently of what stuff he is made. Once at home, 
when he could not have been more than seven years old, he 
was called into the drawincr-room after dinner and told to 00 
and speak with an Italian Ambassador at Berlin, Count de 
Launay, who was on a visit to his parents. He advanced at 
once and shook hands ; the Count immediately attempted to 
draw him into conversation ; the child, who, however, did not 
seem in the least shy, smiled prettily, nodded his answers, but 
never opened his lips, whether he was addressed in French 
or Italian. 

The Queen, after repeatedly ordering him. to talk and 
finding him still mute, a little sternly gave the order for his 
removal. He retired silently, obediently, his eyes filling with 
unshed tears at his mother's evident displeasure. Late that 
evening she came, as was her wont, to bid him good night. 
He threw himself into her arms, sobbing and crying. "Oil! 
do not be angry ; and tell Count de Launay I was not rude 
or naughty ; but it was Sunday, and you made me promii£e 
the other day that I would only speak English on Sundays, 
and he would talk nothing but French or Italian." 

His allowance of pocket-money in those days v/as so small 
that it would have excited the derision of any ;r»oderatcly 
well-tipped schoolboy ; but the King had so willed it, making, 
moreover, a rule that he should husband his weekly income 



lyO WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

SO as never to exceed his budget. Grandly generous in aU 
his dealings with others, Umberto practices as far as he is 
personally concerned a praiseworthy self-denial ; by strict 
economy and judicious retrenchments he has been able to 
pay off the heavy debts which King Victor Emmanuel left 
behind him, and cleared the memory of II Galantuomo from 
the posthumous reproach of improvident extravagance. The 
Prince of Naples, conscientious in this, as in all things, had 
never been in debt, nor did the child ever complain of being 
stinted in his little allowance. 

At one time the Queen noticed that he left off making any 
purchases; that he refused to buy a somewhat costly toy 
which be had long coveted, although she had suspected him 
of hoarding his pocket-money for that purpose. She forbore 
to question him. till one day he asked her what the price of a 
silk gown was. On receiving an approximate answer, he 
emptied the contents of his money-box in his mother's lap, 
saying, ** I don't think there is quite as much, but if you will 
let me go out on foot one morning and go alone into a shop, 
I can bargain for a dress and get it cheaper, and I do so want 
to buy one for my nurse, who won't have to wait any longer." 

In the same way he would sacrifice his childish fancies to 
buy a present for the Queen, more especially when he went 
with her to Courmayeur, in the picturesque Aosta valley, 
during the summer, where he enjoyed freedom and more of 
her company. There the mother and son lived happily and 
quietly at the Hotel Royal, an inn of small pretensions and 
less comfort, which the Queen patronized because its chief 
recommendation in her eyes was that it faces the glorious 
prospect of mountain scenery and can be reached without 
passing through the little town. She would leave her jewels 



THE kOYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 17! 

and matchless toilettes behind her in the cities and walk 
abroad all day dressed in a short, serviceable woolen gown 
and plain straw hat, talking unrestrainedly with her lady-in- 
waiting and her aide-de-camp, while the Prince, strengthened 
and exhilarated by the Alpine air, was as bright, active, and 
joyous a lad as ever spent his holidays 5,000 feet above the 
level of the sea. 

His first Gouverneur was General Oslo, formerly military 
attache to the Embassy at Berlin, and that officer is with him 
now. It was an excellent choice, the General being not only 
a man of great merit, but of high moral authority. He has 
acquitted himself of his charge with conscientious ability. He 
was accused by some of undue severity, but the strong affec- 
tion his pupil bears him shows the accusation to have been 
groundless. In the earlier days of their companionship, 
when the boy had successfully accomplished some difficult 
task which he had not been allowed to lay aside, he would 
bring it to his instructor, and, watching his face anxiously, 
say, " Colonel, are you pleased with your little Prince ?" 
Even now he frequently refers to him, seeks his advice, and 
values his approval. 

The Prince of Naples is below middle height. His physi- 
cal development was slow, while his mental one was un- 
usually rapid. His hair is fair, his complexion pale, his eyes 
blue and soft ; he bears a striking resemblance to his ma- 
ternal grandfather, King John, of Saxony, and has few of the 
more characteristic features of the House of Savoy. His 
memory is remarkable in so young a man ; his favorite study 
is history. Few Princes in Europe, whatever their age, are 
so thoroughly master of the involved history of the Middle 
Ages; he knows in all its details the complicated part played 



1,7^ 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



by Italy at that period, and he has in elucidation and com- 
plement to his researches begun a collection of medals and 
coins which bids fair to become very interesting. 

In 1886, the King sent him on an extended traveling tour 
which lasted a twelvemonth. The journey was undertaken 
merely for pleasure, but had a more serious import; it was 
his father's wish that he should see with his own eyes what 
was o-oinor on in foreisfn countries, be initiated to the work- 
ino-s of other Governments, and under enlightened oruidance 
from his own judgment, enlarge his views, and gain personal 
experience, in a word fit himself to become in his turn a 
ruler of men. Those who know best say that the Prince 
more than fulfilled the expectations of King Umberto ; that 
on his return to Rome, the stripling had become a man, ma- 
tured in mind, and gravely impressed with the magnitude of 
his future responsibilities, having lost, however, nothing of 
the gentle, submissive charm which is so endearing to his 
mother. 

It was not the King's wish that the Prince should remain too 
long under tutelage, and to this the Queen consented — as she 
would do anything her husband thinks best. Albeit, with a 
regretful sense that her boy was no longer all her own. The 
Queen has a deep sense of her obligations and duties, and is 
ever ready to relinquish her own wishes if they clash with 
political or diplomatic claims. For instance, not very long 
ago it had been her great desire to be present in Dresden, 
at the marriage of her cousin. Princess Josepha, of Saxony. 
She had manifested her intention of so doing, and made all 
her preparations to start for Germany with her mother, the 
Dowager Duchess of Genoa, sister of the King of Saxony. 
But King Umberto disapproved of the journey. The Emperor 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 



'''7Z 



of Austria was bidden to the wedding, but as he had not yet 
returned the visit of the King of Italy to Vienna, comphca- 
tions might arise which it was wise to avoid. Queen Mar- 
guerite pleaded her relationship to the bride. ' You are her 
cousin, it is true,'' answered the King, " but you are also 




VIA ROMA, THE LEADING THOROUGHFARE OF NAPLES. 



Queen of Italy, which is more." Without further demur the 
"Queen of Italy" gave up her projected visit. 

The Prince of Naples looks well on horseback, and more 
to his advantage than on foot, owing to his diminutive stature. 
When he arrived at Berlin in M^^rch, 1868, for Kaiser Wil' 



j-^ WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. = 

helm's funeral, he was met at the station by the chief members 
of the Embassy, and by the dignitaries of the German Court 
attached to his person during his stay. The Ambassador had 
brouo"ht a superb wreath of violets, bound with broad ribbons 
of the Italian colors, to be deposited by the Prince on the 
dead Emperor's coffin. When he was asked whether 
he would repair at once to the Cathedral or go first to the 
quarters prepared for him, he shot a quick glance at Colonel 
Oslo, and apparently understanding the meaning conveyed, 
expressed his intention of first doing homage at the Dom. 
This decision seemed to gratify the German escort, which 
took their place at his side, and with him left the platform. 

As fate would have it, two of the tallest of the gigantic 
generals of the Prussian Army had been deputed to attend 
him, and as he walked out of the station between them he 
looked even more slender and delicate, but withal possessed 
with such sweet simplicity of manner and grave composure 
in this, his first representative mission, that he won the warm 
regard of his colossal companions. 

The Duke of Aosta, although as yet but a very young man, 
having been born in 1869, has witnessed many vicissitudes 
and changes in his family. He is the eldest son of the late 
Prince Amadseus, a brother of King Humbert, by his wife, the 
beautiful Princess Maria dal Pozzo della Cisterna, and was 
named Emmanuel after his paternal grandfather. At the 
tender age of two, he accompanied his parents to Madrid, his 
father having been elected King of Spain in December, 1870. 
However, the Duke de Poullles — as the baby was then styled 
— occupied the position of heir-apparent to the Spanish 
throne but two years, until his father abdicated In 1875. The 
Duke's mother died in 1876, and in i883 his father married 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. lyr 

Princess Letitia Bonaparte, his niece, who was only three 
years older than her stepson. 

Prince Emmanuel is a captain of the i8th Regiment of 
Artillery, and an officer of the highest promise, with all the 
sterling qualities of character hereditary in the House of 
Savoy. After his cousin, the Prince of Naples, heir-apparent 
to the Italian throne, the Duke of Aosta, stands next in order 
of succession. 

Shortly after the old Duke of Aosta's death, rumors be- 
came current in Italy concerning the disposal of the hand of 
the widowed Duchess at the close of the customary twelve 
months of mourning. The bridegroom chosen by popular 
report was no less a person than her stepson, the eldest of 
the three children of the late Duke by his first marriage. In 
1888 the young Prince was not only deeply attached, but 
head over ears in love with his cousin Letitia, and only 
awaited his twenty-first birthday in order to make a request 
in due form for her hand. His father, the Duke, may or may 
not have been aware of his son's sentiments in the matter. 
At any rate, he appeared to ignore them, and put forward his 
own more mature pretensions to his niece's heart. The boy, 
horrified at the idea of becoming the rival in love of his 
father, to whom he was passionately devoted, started off on 
foreign travels, from which he did not return until three 
months after the wedding had taken place. 

The Prince is exceedingly handsome, bearing a striking 
resemblance to his mother. As he has inherited an enormous 
fortune from the latter, his marriage with the widowed 
Duchess would have cleared up the money difficulties which 
she is called upon to face, her husband having left her almost 
penniless and dependent on the bounty of King Humbert, 



175 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

The affinity between the Prince and his stepmother would 
not, according to the Canon law of the Church, have consti- 
tuted as difficult an impediment to the marriage as that which 
subsisted between the late Duke and his niece, and in view 
of the fact that the young man stands next to the weakly and 
delicate Crown Prince in the line of direct succession to the 
throne, and that he is, like his father, very devout, it is prob- 
able that the Vatican would have granted the necessary dis- 
pensation. 

Should the marriage ever take place, it is to be hoped that 
the ceremony will not be attended by the same ominous acci- 
dents which occurred at the wedding of the late Duke. 
Probably the most tragical of these incidents was the death 
of the Duke's favorite aide-de-camp, Count de Castiglione. 
who, having galloped alongside the carriage which bore the 
newly-married couple to the Castle of Stupinigi, where they 
were to pass their honeymoon, was stricken with apoplexy 
and fell dead from his horse as the carriage drew up in the 
courtyard of the chateau. 

Princess Letitia Bonaparte, widow of the Duke of Aosta, 
is at the present moment one of the most beautiful women in 
Europe, bearing a striking resemblance to the portraits in 
existence of Pauline Bonaparte, the lovely sister of the first 
Napoleon. 

Pauline, it will be remembered, was the Princess Borghese 
who posed for the sculptor Canovas in such exceedingly 
scanty attire, and who, in response to an inquiry as to whether 
she had not felt uncomfortable in showing herself thus to the 
artist, replied : " Oh ! no ; there was a fire in the room !" 

From what I know of Princess Letitia, I should say that 
her beauty, her insouciance, and her disinvoUure render her 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 



^11 



perfectly capable of emulating her grand-aunt Pauline, even 
to the extent of the characteristic reply above quoted, for 
Letitia is a thorough Bonaparte, morally and physically, and 
unless I am very much mistaken, will yet become the heroine 
of some sensational episode. Her debut in life, at any rate, 
furnishes grounds for the anticipations of this nature. 

The young Duke of Aosta is still madly in love with Prin- 
cess Letitia, who is not devoid of ambition, and who, seeing 
no other crown within her reach, would gladly place herself 
once more in the line of succession to that of Italy. 

It was for the sake of eventually becoming the Queen of 
Italy that Letitia formerly jilted the son, whom she loved, to 
marry the father, who stood nearer to the throne ; and now 
that her old and ill-favored husband is dead, and that her 
calculations have been disappointed, she would be perfectly 
willing to repair matters by marrying the eldest son of her 
late husband. 

As an illustration of Princess Letitia's truly Bonapartist 
carelessness with regard to the conventionalities of life, I may 
mention that, although in mourning for her husband and for 
her father, she startled the good people of Paris during her 
last stay there by her unconstrained gayety as well as by the 
gorgeousness of her manifold-hued toilets. 

The Count of Turin, the second son of King Humbert's 
only brother, the Duke of Aosta, is a tall, handsome young 
fellow about 22 years old, who has inherited not alone a 
moiety of the enormous fortune of his mother, but also a 
considerable share of her comeliness. 

For the sake of the Italian Royal family it is to be hoped 
that his reported engagement to Dona Teresa, the 16-year- 
old daughter of the Duke of Torlonia-Ceri will prove to be 



178 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



without foundation. While it is perfectly easy to understand 
the attractions which are to be found even for a Royal per- 
sonage in a dowry of ^4,000,000, yet not even that sum 
should blind the young Prince to the disadvantages of such 
an alliance. 

The fact is, that the family of the young girl who appears 
to have been selected as the bride of the Count of Turin 
constitutes one of the least desirable branches of the House 
of Torlonia. The Duchess of Torlonia-Ceri's mother died a 
raving maniac ; her only sister likewise died demented, while 
she has herself the half-sad, half-vacant look of her large 
black eyes, which gives one the impression of being a woman 
who is fated sooner or later to lose her reason. 

With regard to the Duke of Torlonia-Ceri, he is not a 
Torlonia by birth. He is a younger brother of the Prince 
Paul Borghese, whose bankruptcy created so great a sensa- 
tion throuorhout the civilized world. 

Giulio, for that is his name, at the time of his marriao-e 
with old Alessandro Torlonia's daughter, whose dowry 
amounted to no less than ^25,000,000, was induced in con- 
sideration thereof to abandon his grand old family name of 
Borghese, so celebrated in mediaeval history, in order to 
adopt the comparatively plebeian patronymic of his wife. He 
is a handsome man from a physical point of view ; but with 
regard to his intellect, the less said about it the better. 

If any further indication was required of the character of 
this man, who traded his name and his lineage for the Tor- 
lonia-Ceri gold and the Torlonia-Ceri strain of insanity, it 
would be furnished by the fact that when his elder brother 
became insolvent he declined to contribute even the smallest 
sum from his colossal wealth toward savins^ the historical 



l8o WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

name of Borghese from the disgrace which had overtaken 
it. 

He was content to stand quietly by without stirring a finger, 
while all the heirlooms and treasures of the Borgheses were 
dispersed to the four winds of heaven by public sale. 

He might have prevented the whole thing, both the bank- 
ruptcy and the forced sale, without scarcely feeling the loss 
of the money which would have been needed for that pur- 
pose. But he maintained the attitude of a perfect stranger 
in the matter. 

Such is the man who, if the news of the Royal betrothal is 
confirmed, may one day stand on the steps of the Italian 
throne as father-in law to the King. For the Count of Turin 
is in the direct line of succession to the Crown. 

One of the most charming personalities whom I met at the 
Court of Italy is Count Nigra, Italian Ambassador in Vienna. 
He is a great favorite of the Queen Marguerite, and a most 
witty and interesting conversationalist. The manner in which 
he began his diplomatic career is so characteristic that I shall 
say a few words about it here : 

" Have you not some donkey here whom I could take with 
me?" exclaimed Count Cavour, the famous Italian Prime 
Minister, one evening in 1854, when on the point of a sudden 
and unexpected departure for Paris. The inquiry was ad- 
dressed to one of the Chiefs of the Department in the Min- 
istry of Foreign Affairs at Turin, who forthvi^ith replied: " Un 
asinotto (a donkey). Excellency? Certainly. Here, Nigra, 
come down." A young man who had been standing on the 
top of a ladder, arranging some books on a shelf, stepped 
down, and without displaying any trace of annoyance at the 
implied insult, approached and made his bow to the Minister. 
The latter ordered him to be at the railway station in half an 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. igj 

hour, to accompany him to Paris as his private secretary, 
Baron Blanc, who ordinarily filled that office, being confined 
to his bed by sickness. By the time that the Count reached 
the French Capital he had come to the conclusion that his 
young companion was very far from deserving the appellation 
of "asinotto," so graciously conferred upon him by his chief, 
and four years later Signor Constantin Nigra, who was barely 
thirty years old at the time, found himself Minister Plenipo- 
tentiary of King Victor Emmanuel to the French Government. 
Such was the origin of the career of the statesman, who a 
couple of years ago was invested by Emperor Francis Joseph 
with the Order of St. Stephen, one of the most rarely con- 
ferred and highly-prized of any European decorations. The 
honor was all the more significant, inasmuch as the relations 
between the Court of Vienna and the Quirinal at Rome were 
at the time exceedingly strained. This, however, was not 
allowed by either Signor Crispi or Count Nigra to interfere 
in any way with the official relations between Austria aud 
Italy as members of the tripartite Alliance, and it was for his 
services in connection therewith that the Count undoubtedly 
received this marked token of Imperial favor. But although 
Count Nigra contributed so much toward the continuance and 
prolongation of the tripartite agreement, it is doubtful 
whether he had in reality much confidence as to its efficacy 
in case of war. He told me one day at a dinner, upon my 
asking him if it were really true that the three Powers were 
marching arm-in-arm : " Yes, that is just what we are doing ; 
but we are very much like three men going out bear-hunting 
arm-in-arm. Whether we shall maintain that pleasant attitude 
when we meet the bear is quite another question." 

The answer is characteristic of the man, who is famed as 



J §2 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

being one of the most witty and cynical diplomats in 
Europe. 

While Ambassador at the Court of the Tuilleries in the 
palmy days of the Empire he bore the reputation of being 
second only in brilliancy of intellect to Princess Pauline Met- 
ternich, whose principal collaborateur he was in all the 
comediettes and charades which enlivened the Imperial 
villegiature at Fontainbleau, St. Cloud, and Compiegne. 
Exceedingly chivalrous, the Count was the only one who 
remembered in the days of their trouble the kindness received 
at the hands of Napoleon III and of his beautiful consort. 
For it was he who, on the memorable September 4th, imme- 
diately after the battle of Sedan, made his way to the side of 
the deserted Empress and escorted her from the Tuilleries 
through the streets of Paris to the house of the American 
dentist, Dr. Evans. Had it not been for his timely assistance 
she would undoubtedly have fallen into the hands of the mob 
who invaded the Tuilleries at the moment of her departure, 
and in view of the frenzied state of the populace at the time, 
it is probable that she would have fared little better than the 
ill-fated Princess de Lamballe in 1792. Count Nigra has 
generally been credited with a sentiment somewhat stronger 
than mere admiration for Eugenie of Montijo, and it is pos- 
sibly owing to this fact that he has remained single all his 
life. This constancy, however, is of a purely sentimental 
nature and not a political one, for the Count has never per- 
mitted his heart to interfere with his head, or to render him 
unworthy of the praise awarded by the famous old Prince 
Metternich, who was wont to declare that Count Nip^ra was 
the only real diplomat in Europe — besides himself. 

A graceful poet and brilliant conversationalist, the Count 
has succeeded in rendering himself popular at every Court 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 



183 



to which he has been accredited, particularly to those of St. 
James, St. Petersburg, Paris, and Vienna. 

One of Queen Marguerite's pet aversions was and is, how- 
ever, Signor Crispi, in spite of the fact that his power in Italy 
is enormous. So strong were Her Majesty's feelings on the 
subject that she flatly refused to receive Mme. Crispi when 
her husband became Prime Minister. 

The Queen's conduct in the matter is hardly surprising 
when the very peculiar matrimonial experiences of Crispi are 
taken into consideration. The latter was one of the chief 
promoters of the insurrection of Palermo against the Bour- 
bons in 1848, and after the victory of the Royal troops was 
forced to seek refuge at Malta, where, with the object of 
sweeteninor the bitterness of exile, he married a beautiful and 
estimable Maltese peasant girl. In 1859, leaving his wife 
behind him at Malta, he joined Garabaldi and landed with the 
volunteers of the latter at Palermo, fiofhtino- in their ranks as 
a simple soldier. The vivandiere of his regiment was at that 
time a celebrated character. Dressed in the traditional red 
blouse, with a musket on her shoulder, Rosalie, for that was 
her name, took part in all the battles and slew with her own 
fair hands countless numbers of the King's troops. Enrap- 
tured by so much heroism, Crispi, forgetful of the trusting 
wife whom he had left behind him at Malta, gave vent to his 
ardent patriotism by offering his heart and hand to the some- 
what masculine Rosalie, and the marriage was celebrated in 
due form without delay. After the successful termination of 
the insurrection, Crispi was elected to represent his native 
city, Palermo, in the Italian Parliament, and soon acquired 
great prominence and high office. 

Madame Rosalie after having shared his dangers, was nat- 



j,g. WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

urally also called upon to share his successes. She was pre- 
sented at Court, and owing to the position of her husband be- 
came one of the most constant guests of the Queen, who 
vastly enjoyed her eccentricities of character and picturesque- 
ness of her laneuacre. Of course no mention was made to 
the deserted wife at Malta, whose very existence had been 
kept a profound secret by her faithless spouse. The latter, 
after actinof for some time as President of the Chamber of 
Deputies, was holding in 1877 the post of Minister of the In- 
terior in the Depretis Cabinet, when suddenly Rome, and in 
fact the whole of Italy, was convulsed by the announcement 
that Crispi had just contracted another marriage at Naples. 
On inquiry at the latter place it was discovered that by order 
of the Minister of Justice the local authorities had dispensed 
with the usual banns and publications, and that the marriage 
had been duly solemnized. Of course there was a tremen- 
dous outcry, and the Minister of Justice was called upon to 
explain by what right he had authorized his colleague at the 
Interior Department to contract a bigamous marriage. The 
former in self-defense then made public for the first time 
Crispi's Maltese marriage, and added that Madame Crispi No. 
I had just died. He explained that the marriage with Mad- 
ame Rosalie being null and void by reason of bigamy there 
was now no legal obstacle to prevent Crispi from wedding wife 
No. 3. It is needless to add that the scandal caused by this 
extraordinary behavior on the part of the Minister of the Inte- 
rior was immense and necessitated his immediate withdrawal 
from the Cabinet. 

Madame Rosalie Is still alive and resides at Rome. Her 
hair is snow-white, and she makes a point of taking part in all 
the Garibaldian processions and demonstrations. Her stout 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ITALY. 



185 



figure, dressed in the red blouse, and widi a large array of 
medals on die breast, is one of the most conspicuous. 

Madame Rosalie has never attempted to prosecute Crispi 
for bigamy and has agreed to leave him to his own devices in 
consideration of receiving a yearly allowance of ^1,200 for the 
remainder of her life. At Rome she is known by the name 
of Madame Crispi No. 2, while the Minister's present wife is 
known as No. 3. 

The Quirinal is one of the smallest of the many Royal 
Palaces of Italy. Under the Papacy it was only used for a 
short time during the summer, and when Rome became the 
capital of the new kingdom. King Umberto was obliged to 
build an additional residence in the gardens, called the Pal- 
lazino, to accommodate the Duchess of Genoa, his mother-in- 
law ; Queen Maria Pia, of Portugal, his sister ; Prince Thomas, 
the Queen's brother; the Duke of Aosta, and other members 
of the Royal family when they were his guests in the Eter- 
nal City. However, these visits have always been (e\v and 
short ; it would seem as if the scions of the old Catholic House 
of Savoy, the once loyal supporters of the Church, felt ill at 
ease under the sombre and reproachful shadow of the Vati- 
can. 

Yet the Queen does not care for the Pitti at Florence — it is 
too large, too public, more of a museum than a home; the 
huge accumulation of art treasures, on which countless gen- 
erations from all climes come to gaze, oppresses and saddens 
her. Under the roof that shelters them it appears to her that 
there is no room for that happy me dHnterieur of which she is 
so honestly fond ; she feels more removed from her husband 
and her child, perhaps also from her poor. 

The best dressed woman in Italy is not only a loving wife 



186 WltttlN RoVaL tALACfiS. 

and tender modier, but a warm-hearted benefactress of the 
suffering and afflicted ; her charity is not carelessly dispensed ; 
she personally investigates the cases that seems deserving of 
assistance, and when assured that they are genuine, sends 
prompt relief. She enters sympathetically into the tastes and 
occupations of the King, and is proud of his loyal, enduring 
admiration for her. 

The Kino-'s stables and stud at his summer residence at 
Monza are unrivaled in any royal establishment of Europe, and 
the perfection obtained in all things pertaining to the adminis- 
tration of the Italian Court attains its climax there. The 
King and Queen both adore Monza, which they are embellish- 
ing yearly. The park surrounding the palace is one of the 
most beautiful I have ever seen. In spring the velvety lawns 
are one mass of fragrant violets and of blossoming shrubs, 
and silvery fountains rise everywhere under the dark vaults 
of the superb trees. It is in the Cathedral of the little town of 
Monza that is kept the famous "Iron Crown." It is deposited 
in a richly decorated cross over the altar, and consists of a 
band of gold lined with a thin strip of iron, said to have been 
made from a nail of the true cross, brought from Palestine by 
the Empress Helena ! The gold band is adorned with numer- 
ous precious stones. With it were crowned thirty-four Lom- 
bard Kings, the Emperor Charles V, Napoleon I, in 1805, 
the Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand I, in 1838. 

It was removed by the Austrians during the Italian war in 
1859, but returned after the peace of 1866. The Treasury 
contains numerous valuable relics ; a ofolden hen with seven 
chickens, representing the seven provinces of Lombardy ; the 
cross placed on the breast of the Lombard Kings at the time 
of their coronation ; two silver loaves, presented by Napoleon 
at the time of his coronation, and other priceless relics. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

ROUMANIA. 

I. 

KING CHARLES, Karl, or Carol I., of Roumania, was born 
April 20, 1839, son of the late Prince Karl of Hohen- 
zollern-Sigmaringen ; in 1866 he was elected " Domnul," or 
Lord of Roumania, comprising the United Danubian Princi- 
palities of Moldavia and Wallachia, previously ruled by Prince 
Alexander John Couza, as a feudal dependency of the Turk- 
ish Empire. The Russo-Turkish war of 1878 converted 
Roumania into an independent sovereignty ; and the Hohen- 
zollern Prince was proclaimed King on March 26, 1881. The 
Queen of Roumania, who was Princess Elizabeth of Neuwied, 
is the accomplished lady known as "Carmen Sylva " by her 
literary productions. Their Majesties have no children. 

The election of the Hohenzollern Prince Charles as the 
reigning Prince of Roumania in 1866 was a surprise to all 
Europe, with the exception of Napoleon III., who objected to 
the previously successful candidate for the vacant throne — to 
wit, the Count of Flanders, as he was the son of a Princess 
of the House of Orleans. For this reason the French Em- 
peror had privately suggested to the late M, Joan Bratiano 
the young Hohenzollern Prince, then a lieutenant in the Sec- 
ond Prussian Regiment of Draofoon Guards, as a more suita- 
ble candidate. The consent of King William of Prussia to 
this candidature was easily obtained, but Prince Bismarck dis- 
liked the whole affair, and for many years afterwards the 

(187) 



i88 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



German SecundoCTeniture on the Lower Danube was a source 
of anxiety to the ex-Chancellor, who feared that it might some 

day involve 
Prussia in dif- 
ficulties. 

The election 
of the Prince 
occurred o n 
the eve of the 
Austro- Prus- 
sian war, and 
was so ex- 
ceedingly un- 
welcome to the 
Vienna Cabi- 
net that the 
tail young Ger- 
man officer, 
then twenty- 
seven years 
old, had .to 
find his way 
to his future 
capital incog- 
nito. In fact, 
durinof a three 
days' stay at 
Vienna, on his 
way thither, he travelled under the name of "Herr Leh- 
mann, mei chant," and subsequendy assumed the disguise of a 
ship's cook, on proceeding by the Austrian steamer down 




KING CAROL I. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ROUMANIA. 1 89 

the river Turn Severin, where he first touched Roumanian soil, 
on the 20th of May, 1866. 

He found the country rent by pohtical factions, and filled 
with revolutionary and Republican ideas, the upper class cor- 
rupt, the lower ignorant, the finances in a hopeless state, and 
the army worthless. On the other hand, Russian agitation 
was predominant, and the Sultan's authority was not to be 
defied. Indeed, the Prince, in order to secure his recognition 
by the Suzerain power, had to go to Constantinople. 

If we compare Roumania to-day with what Prince Charles 
found it on his arrival, we shall be able to realize the immense 
services this hard-working German Prince, who is a model of 
patience, perseverance and foresight, has rendered to his 
adopted country within the past quarter of a century. In 
spite of the violence of parties, including Republican factions, 
the Throne of Roumania is as safe as possible. 

The proclamation of the King's nephew. Prince Ferdinand 
of Hohenzollern, as heir to the Throne, has been accepted by the 
country with the greatest enthusiasm, so that the continuance 
of the Dynasty rests on a solid basis. The army, created 
anew by Prince Charles, was able at Plevna to save Russia 
from otherwise certain disaster, and, since Prince Charles had 
at Grivitza shown what he could do with his Dorobanzes and 
Kalashari, the Roumanian Army has been filled with self-con- 
fidence which promises well in the event of any future 
struggle against Russian aggression. 

Queen Elizabeth of Roumania was born in 1842, in the 
Castle of Monrepos, a massive and forbidding stronghold set 
on a rugged and rocky height in the heart of the Black For- 
est. The solemn, dreamy solitude of the dark pine woods, 
the loud moaning of the north winds through the branches 



igO WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

of the tall Siberian Arolla and Norwegian oaks seem to have 
left an abiding impression on her sensitive temperament. The 
pen name adopted by the Queen when she began to devote 
herself to literary work, " Carmen Sylva," means " the song, 
the wood," and was chosen by her in recognition of all that 
her soul owed to the forest where her youth had been spent. 

She loved to wander alone in the shady glens of the Black 
Forest, with her huge St, Bernard dog for sole companion. 
Her early life was made melancholy by her pity and sympa- 
thy for the sufferings of her invalid brother. Otto ; and when 
he died, the nineteen-year-old girl went through an anguish 
of pfrief which came near wreckinor her entire existence. A 
terrible restlessness possessed her after his death, and having 
collected every memorial of her brother into one great dark 
room overlooking the Castle moat, she spent hours there 
writing pathetically about her beloved Otto. 

As time went on, however, her buoyant nature asserted it- 
self. She longed for absolute peace. She found her most 
agreeable companionship when alone in communion with her 
thoughts. 

" How beautiful it is to be old," she writes in her journal ; 
" to have a great hush over one and to feel a great rest, 
although this can be reached only through much struggle and 
strife." 

In October, 1869, Queen Elizabeth met again Prince Karl 
of Hohenzollern, then lately elected to the Principality of 
Roumania. In childhood they had been playmates, and on 
occasion of this meeting she gave her heart to her old com- 
panion. Only a month afterwards, on November i8th, the 
wedding was celebrated with the most impressive ceremonials, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ROUMANIA. I9I 

and a week later the bride and groom entered Bucfiarest in 
state. 

She had once remarked that the " only throne I would 
care to ascend is that of Roumania, for there is on it still some- 
thing for me to do." She entered upon the task of " doing 
something" for her people with such energy that writing be- 
came a secondary consideration. The education of her sub- 
jects was her first and foremost thought. She gave material 
aid to the home industries that were fast decaying. She 
founded schools and societies to help and encourage various 
crafts and art throughout Roumania. The "Asyle Helene," 
where nearly five hundred girls are in attendance, received 
her particular care. The Societe Elizabeth, an. institution for 
spreading education among the poor and lower classes, was 
founded by her. 

She strove to elevate the ambition of her people, to en- 
courage and patronize music and the drama. She worked 
indefatigably in translating many of the standard German and 
French writers into the Roumanian language for her subjects. 
She published a book containing the legends and quaint songs 
of the peasantry. She revived the art of weaving, which had 
nearly disappeared from the country, and instead of the Rou- 
manian nobility following Parisian fashion they followed the 
example of their Queen in adopting the national costume. 

The Queen's favorite dress when she is at work in her study 
is this national orarb, which consists of a white linen sleeveless 
garment, made very plain and with as few folds as possible, 
resemblino^, in fact, the well-known "orandourah" of the 
Egyptian Fellaheen. This is thickly embroidered around the 
armholes, collar and bottom of the pseudo-skirt with a design 
of cross-stitch executed in red, blue, yellow and black silk, in- 



192 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

termingled with gold thread. Around the waist is a band of 
the same embroidery, from which depend streamers of bright 
red, blue and yellow ribbons falling straight down front and 
back. The hair is plaited in four braids intermingled with 
tiny gold pieces and tied with ribbons hanging loosely. Red 
silk stockings and crimson kid slippers are worn with this 
dress. 

In 1877, during the war between Russia and Turkey, Prince 
Karl led his army to battle and the Princess headed the staff 
of nurses at home. She dev^oted her entire time, day and 
night, to the care of the wounded and the consolation of the 
dying, and with her own hands she administered chloroform 
to those who were about to undergo a surgical operation. 

Carmen Sylva's life has been burdened by sorrow upon 
sorrow. Her favorite daughter died when five years old, and 
the mother fell into such a dangerous illness that her life was 
despaired of. During her convalescence she wrote the biog- 
raphy of her brother Otto. 

Her home is at Castle Pelesch, on the rocky slopes of the 
Carpathians. When there, before she became ill, the Queen 
devoted six or seven hours of the day to hard literary work. 
Arising at 6.30 a. m. and after taking a cup of tea she sat 
down to write without interruption till eight o'clock, when she 
awakened her maid of honor, Mile. Helene Vacaresco, to dis- 
cuss her mornina labors. Mile. Vacaresco is the daughter 
of a Roumanian Senator and Statesman of ancient lineage. 
She won fame as a poetess while still a girl, and when she be- 
came of age she resolved to attach herself entirely to the 
Queen's service. 

The carpet of the turret chamber was generally littered 
with proof sheets and manuscripts, for the Queen has written 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ROUMANIA. 1 93 

among many other things a romance about Wales and the 
Welsh, and many volumes of poems, one of which is called 
Les Rhapsodies de la Dimbovitza. 

From the date of her arrival in the country of her adoption, 
Elizabeth addressed herself to the difficult task of winning the 
hearts of her subjects, instinctively averse to and suspicious of 
foreign persons. Her efforts in this direction were soon 
crowned with complete and unexampled success, as their in- 
telligence deserved. 

She devoted several months of unremitting- labor to the 
study of the Roumanian language, literature, legendary lore, 
and music, choosing her friends and instructors among the 
most eminent poets, historians, and archaeologists of the 
country. 

She translated the ballads, fables, and love-songs of Alesc- 
sandri, Negri, Bolintineanu, Eminescu and other popular 
Dacian poets into German verse, and published them, thus 
spreading the fame of Roumania's cherished bards far and 
wide throughout civilized Europe. Her gentle manners, en- 
gaging appearance, sweet disposition, and, above all, inex- 
haustible interest in history, traditions, and customs of the 
" scumpa tsera," rapidly effected the conquest of Trajan's 
rumored but warm-hearted descendants, and before she had 
been a year on the Throne, " Marea Sa " (Her Highness) had 
attained the summit of her ambition, an unexampled popu- 
larity in her brave and sagacious husband's realm. 

A few years ago, as I was on my way from Constantinople 
to Vienna, I accepted an invitation of " Carmen Sylva " to 
visit her in her wonderful country residence at Castle 
Pelesch. 

A vast stretch of green and undulating plains surround the 
13 



1^4 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

immense gardens, and the huge structure, half palace and 
half fortress, which for centuries has belonged to the rulers of 
Rou mania. Renovated by a French architect shortly after 
the present Monarch's accession to the throne, the Castle is a 
place of great beauty with its many halls and chambers, its 
wide marble staircase, and its treasures of art. 

It was eight o'clock in the evening, a warm, sultry, July 
night, when I arrived. The sky was radiant with that pecu- 
liar radiance which comes to the Carpathian range in mid- 
summer, and the silvery lustre of the rising moon shone over 
all the scene, making the gardens with their gorgeous par- 
terres of flowers and the water of the little lake in front of 
the Chateau light as day. 

The august Chatelaine, sittino- in a bamboo rockinor-chair on 
the marble terrace overhanging the park, looked out into the 
wide stretch of moonlight dancing on the water as I walked 
up the steps attended by her chamberlain. She was a very 
lovely woman then, infinitely graceful in all her movements 
and actions, and possessing an intricate mixture of vivacity 
and languor which was extremely taking. Her eyes looked 
immensely large in her delicate white face, and her hair 
rippled in soft silky curls all over her small patrician head. 

Leaning back in her long, low chair, she wore a loose white 
woollen eown with a ereat deal of old lace ruffled at her neck 
and on her arms and falling in a perfumed shower down to 
her tiny feet. A necklace of enormous pearls gleamed be- 
hind the lace at her throat, where a cluster of noisette roses 
was fastened, and I could not help casting an admiring gaze 
at her, sitting there quite unconscious of my approach, and 
wrapped in one of those reveries which are among her most 
marked characteristics. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ROUMANIA. 



195 



" Carmen Sylva " was then and is still a strangely attrac- 
tive woman, whose nature is full of contrasts and whose 
originality is indescribable. 

During my short 
stay we used to sit 
down together after 
dinner on a low otto- 
man in a great hall, 
with groves of palms 
in hu^e bronze vases 
against the walls, 
which were all 
covered with bril- 
liant paintings like a 
Byzantine Church. 
Great brass mosque- 
lamps shed a sub- 
dued light through- 
out the lofty room, 
and quantities of cut 
roses and narcissus 
in bowls of silver 
repousse-work filled 
the air with their 
perfume. 

It was at these 
moments that she 

would talk most charminglyand unrestrainedly, touching many 
different topics with a skill and bravo very rarely found in a 
woman. 

Of late, I understand that her mind has become affected. 




THE QUEEN OF ROUMANIA. 



196 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

and it is quite possible that she may yet be sent to join the 
crowd of distinquished inmates of the great private lunatic 
asylum at Gratz. For since leaving Bucharest, after the 
termination of the love affair between her nephew, the 
Crown Prince, and her maid of honor. Mile. Vacaresco, she 
has fallen into a state of complete despondency, refusing at 
times to speak or eat. It is currently reported at Bucharest 
and also at Vienna that the influence which the Queen's 
secretary, Schaeffer, and Mile. Vacaresco obtained over her 
extremely impressionable Majesty was entirely due to Spirit- 
ualism, and it is claimed that not only is the maid of honor a 
medium, but that the Queen herself is a very favorable subject 
for hypnotic experiments. 

The Queen spent several months at Venice, and her con- 
dition was such that during this period her husband, as well 
as her mother and brother, left in all haste to take charge of 
her. 

One of the first things which they did was to remove from 
any further contact with the Royal patient the rather mature 
and stout maid of honor. Already once before the Queen 
lost her mind to such an extent as to render it necessary that 
she should be kept under surveillance. It was after the death 
of her only child, and I fear that in the present instance her 
complete recovery is extremely doubtful. 

Schaeffer, the Queen's private secretary, has been igno- 
miniously dismissed and banished from Roumania. He was 
an Alsatian with ultra-Franco-Russian sympathies, and had 
been recommended to the Queen by Mme. Adam, the edi- 
tress of La Nouvelle Revue, in Paris — scarcely a recommen- 
dadon which should have carried much weio-ht at the Hohen- 
zollern Court of Roumania. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ROUMANIA. 1 97 

The enofaeement of Prince Ferdinand of Roumania to the 
young Princess of Edinburgh has caused great satisfaction. 
It had for some fime been talked of in Bucharest, where there 
is every reason to beheve it was ardently desired both by the 
King and his subjects. The Roumanian dynasty will thus 
find itself closely connected with the English, German, and 
Russian reio^ningr houses, and, as a matter of course, it has 
the warm sympathy of the Austrian Imperial Family. It is 
to the credit of the Roumanian people that the anti-dynastic 
agitation which made its appearance in certain parts of the 
country some time ago came to an ignominious end, and has 
left no perceptible trace behind. The King is popular, not 
because he inspires any sentimental attachment, but because 
he is a recognized necessity. As a result of the intelligent 
and conscientious manner in which he has unremittingly fur- 
thered the interests of his adopted country, he commands 
personal regard. He is the idol of his army, to which he has 
devoted himself heart and soul, and which he has, moreover, 
led to victory. 

Everything that is known of the Heir Apparent is highly 
favorable to him, and he has won golden opinions in Rouma- 
nia. The gossips at Bucharest pretend that the marriage 
which has now been arranged was approved of by the Czar 
some time before Princess Marie of Edinburg was of age for 
any steps to be taken, and I have heard it said on respectable 
authority that through the medium of the Duke of Nassau, 
who has since become Grand Duke of Luxemburg, it was 
mentioned to Queen Elizabeth of Roumania more than a year 
ao^o. The first time Prince Ferdinand of Roumania met his 
future bride was, if I mistake not, at the wedding of Princess 
Victoria of Prussia, in Berlin, eighteen months ago. On his re- 



198 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

turn to Bucharest the possibihty of a marriage was discussed 
between the Prince and King Charles, of Roumania, though the 
Princess herself was then too young for there to be any im- 
mediate question of it. It is extremely difficult to keep such 
matters entirely secret, particularly at a small Court like that 
of Bucharest, and it is quite conceivable that the fact that this 
alliance was under consideration should have become known 
some months ago. There were probably never any very se- 
rious obstacles in the way. 

Roumania holds in south-eastern Europe a position not un- 
similar to that of Belgium in the west, and the Roumanian 
Royal Family bears much the same 1 elation towards the peo- 
ple of Roumania as does the royal house of Belgium towards 
the people of that country, both being of foreign origin, and 
called to the Throne by the force of circumstances. Roumania 
is almost as thrifty and industrious a country as Belgium, and 
there is a useful field of action for an upright constitutional 
monarch in the one country as in the other. The English 
people may witness a Princess of their Royal house share the 
destinies of the Roumanian Crown Prince without concern, 
for it would be difficult to find on the Continent of Europe a 
country more prosperous and promising than the little king- 
dom of Roumania is now. 

Roumania possesses a population of about 5,500,000 inhab- 
itants, of whom all but about 400,000 belong to the Czarite, 
and practically regard the Czar of Russia in the same light 
as the Spanish, Austrian and French Catholics do the Pope. 
Although not Russian by descent, yet to all intents and pur- 
poses the vast body of the population have Russian ideas, 
customs and traditions, and up to the year 1864 the system 
of serfdom and of communal lands was almost Identical with 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ROUMANIA. 1 99 

that of the dominion of the Czar. Moreover, the common 
people regarded the latter as a liberator from the bondage of 
Turkish rule and tyranny, and, notwithstanding all statements 
to the contrary, have retained a very friendly recollection of 
the Russian occupation of 1877, when the Czar's troops made 
a point of paying liberally for all they required, and of treat- 
ing the population with consideration. 

It should also be added that the large Roumanian popula- 
tion of the province of Bessarabia, which was acquired by 
Russia at the Congress of Berlin, in 1878, appear to be ex- 
ceedingly satisfied with their position as subjects of the Czar. 
There are no complaints from that source, and consequently 
there is no feeling in Roumania on behalf of "unredeemed" 
Roumanians in Bessarabia, nor any aspirations in the latter 
province toward Roumanian citizenship. 

With regard to Austria, the feeling of King Charles's sub- 
jects is very different. In the first place, the Austrian troops 
who occupied Moldavia and Wallachia during the Crimean 
War left exceedingly bad impressions behind them, and are 
asserted to have behaved with great brutality and tyranny. 
Secondly, there are no less than 3,000,000 Roumanians setded 
in Transylvania and Hungary who are subject to the Emperor 
of Austria's rule, and who are as bitterly discontented with 
their lot as were the Venetians at the time when the " Pearl of 
the Adriatic " was still under the oppressive sway of the Vi- 
enna Government. Several methods of repression and even 
of persecution are used by the Hungarians in their futile efforts 
to " magyrize " their Roumanian fellow-citizens, toward whom 
they display on all occasions the most undisguised and insulting 
contempt. The Hungarians wish to form a unified kingdom 
with a Parliament in the English fashion ; and, consequently, 



200 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



they endeavor to assimilate and lessen all peculiarities in in- 
stitutions, languages, customs, religion, and ideas. With this 
object in view, the Diet atPesth has suppressed the autonomy 

of Transyl- 
vania, which 
is almost ex- 
clusively in- 
habited by 
Roumanians, 
and w h i c h 
had its oflori- 
ous past, very 
much in the 
same way as 
the English 
Parliament 
at the begiii- 
ninof of the 
present cen- 
t u r y des- 
troyed the 
autonomy of 
Ireland, 
Moreover, in 
direct contra- 
diction with 
the terms of 
the Austrian 
Imperial law 
of 1863 concerning Transylvania, the use of the Roumanian 
language in the Government documents, law courts, churches 




THE CROWN PRINCE OF ROUMANIA. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF ROUMANIA. 201 

and schools, has been prohibited, and die autonomy of the 
churches and schools have been abolished. The Roumanians 
are a very impulsive and hot-headed people, and bitterly resent 
the above instances of "Austrian tyranny," as they term it, and 
yearn for deliverance from the heavy Austrian oppression. 

The position of their compatriots on the other side of the 
western frontier excites the most intense interest, sympathy, 
and compassion on the part of the Roumanians under King 
Charles's rule, who see in Transylvania a genuine case of 
" Roumania Irredenta." The feeling throughout the little 
Danubian Kingdom is most distinctly hostile to Austria and 
favorable to Russia, and since Roumania's neutrality in the 
case of an Austro-Russian war would be but a polite fiction, 
and she is under the disagreeable necessity of saving herself 
from destruction by allying herself with one or the other of 
the two combatants, the population prefer that the alliance 
should be contracted with the Czar rather than with the Em- 
peror Francis Joseph, 

King Charles, however, notwithstanding all his devotion 
toward his adopted country, is, before anything else, a Hohen- 
zoUern, and entirely influenced on all matters of foreign policy 
by the head of his house at Berlin and by the latter's Chan- 
cellor, Count Caprivi. In accordance with their instructions 
and his own inclinations, but In direct opposition to the wishes 
of his subjects, he has thrown himself into the arms of Austria 
and contracted an offensive and defensive alliance with the 
Vienna Government. In this course he was warmly sup- 
ported by M. Bratiano, who, until quite lately, was the all- 
powerful Prime Minister of the Kingdom. For over twelve 
years this unscrupulous man, who, in 185S, was expelled from 
France in consequence of his implication in an attempt to as- 



202 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

sassinate Napoleon III., had been the despotic Premier of 
Roiimania, and although at the time of his fall he possessed 
a majority of no less than 137 votes in the Parliament, yet 
his party had entirely ceased, either in home or in foreign 
matters, to represent the wishes of the country. This some- 
what anomalous state of affairs was due to the pressure and 
influence exercised on the electors by his vast network of 
officials. As an instance of M. Bratiano's impudent efforts 
to induce the peasantry to vote in his behalf, it is merely 
necessary to state that among other ingenious contrivances 
he had invented, for the use of the peasantry, bright blue vot- 
ing tickets in transparent envelopes, and had caused the be- 
lief to be spread that not to vote blue would be to incur not 
only the displeasure of the Governm.ent, but also of the local 
collectors of rates and taxes. M. Bratiano's name has like- 
wise been implicated in the long series of boodle scandals 
which have ended by giving the Roumanian Administration 
the reputation of being the most corrupt Government in 
Europe. Among their number may be mentioned the con- 
tract for the construction of the railways which was awarded 
to a German company at the rate of ^40,000 per kilometer, 
whereas French and English syndicates offered to do the work 
for ^20,000 a kilometer, the War Office frauds, and many others. 

The King has an annual allowance of 1,185,185 lei, or 
^250,000. 

The succession to the throne of Roumania, in the event of 
the King remaining childless, was settled by Art. S2, of the 
Constitution, upon his elder brother, Prince Leopold of 
Hohenzollern-Siormarinaen, who renounced his rights in favor 
of his son. Prince Ferdinand, the act having been registered 
by the Senate in October, 1880. Prince Ferdinand is affianced 
to the daughter of the Duke of Edinburgh. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

DENMARK. 

L 

OF all men King Christian IX., of Denmark, is the most 
unaffected and most easy of access ; and when a man, 
be he in ever so modest a situation, has been presented to 
His Majesty, it is more than likely that on the following day 
one of the two big dogs which ever accompany Christian in 
his diurnal and pedestrian rambles through Copenhagen, will 
run up against him and that he will hear a cheery but rather 
ofuttural voice callincr out, " Good morningf," and informinor- 
him that he intends asking him to the Palace in a day or two. 

Nobody in Copenhagen thinks of bowing to the King in 
the streets, as it is customary in some countries to bow to the 
Sovereign — although, of course, all those who know him per- 
sonally salute him ; and he lounges about almost unnoticed 
in the streets of his capital. In most cases, indeed, the ap- 
proach of the two dogs above-mentioned alone gives any inti- 
mation of the Royal presence. 

Christian IX. has no vices — he neither gambles nor drinks, 
and a favorite is unknown in Copenhagen ; his only two weak- 
nesses being a love for splendid horses, which he is not 
wealthy enough to indulge in, and a passion for th^ theatre. 
The patriarchal purity, indeed, not only of the King but of 
the Crown Prince, is a source of much comment and not a 
little amusement to the worthy Danes, who are noted as a na- 
tion for a lively appreciation of the charms of the fair sex. 

(203) 



204 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Perhaps the most agreeable chapter of the King's Hfe was 
His Majesty's visit to Iceland in 1873, and he is never tired 
of relating the various incidents of the journey, and of remind- 
ing his hearers that it was the first time in a thousand years 
that the Icelanders had seen their Sovereign. 

On the whole, the King of Denmark is what may be called 
a very good fellow, perhaps. If one wants to be critical, one 
may accuse him of a little want of distinction, but he is a 
pleasant companion and an excellent father. Indeed, the Danes, 
who are rather cynical, sneer sometimes at their King for pro- 
viding so very carefully for his numerous children and call 
him "the best father in the country." His Danish Majesty 
has, I must say, provided remarkably well for his offspring. 
His eldest son, the Prince-Royal, whose civil list is about 
^20,000 a year, has married the Princess Louise, of Sweden, 
who is an heiress, his second child is the Princess of Wales, 
his third is the King of the Hellenes, his fourth the Empress 
of Russia, his fifth the Duchess of Cumberland, whose hus- 
band is a perfect Croesus, and his sixth and youngest. Prince 
Waldemar, is married to the very wealthy daughter of the 
Due de Chartres. 

Like Napoleon III. and the present Emperor of Germany, 
King Christian has never been crowned, the Danish war 
with Prussia and Austria having broken out almost imme- 
diately after his accession to the throne. Of late he has be- 
come very popular with his people, but it must be confessed 
that there seemed little prospect of his becoming so at the 
date of his accession, for on his being proclaimed King the 
people cried " Down with the King ! " and when he attempted 
to drive in his carriage from the Christiansborof to the Amal- 
ianborg the mob became more violent than ever. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK. 205 

One ruffian, indeed, spat full in the face of the present Em- 
press of Russia, while a large stone struck Queen Louise on 
the cheek. All the windows of the Palace were smashed and 
a revolution appeared imminent. The King, however, re- 
mained perfectly quiet, made no manifestation, but stayed shut 
up in his palace and let the storm blow over. This line of 
conduct met with success, and after a day or two of brawling 
the mob settled down and decided to see what the new King 
was worth before condemnino- him. 

Indeed there is no more remarkable spectacle in modern 
history than the real undoubted affection the Danish people 
have exhibited for their ruler in the twenty years past, while 
they have been engaged in a constitutional struggle with the 
King, in which he has yielded not one inch. In any other 
land, under like circumstances, dynamite would long since have 
been the order of the day. In Denmark there has never been 
a day all through that long and weary fight when the personal 
popularity of the Sovereign has abated. Old Queen Louise, 
of Denmark, is about the only person in Europe, male or 
female, who can boast of being able to exercise any serious 
influence on the Czar. She is an exceedingly clever and 
masterful woman, her character in this respect presenting a 
striking contrast with that of her three daughters, the Em- 
press of Russia, the Princess of Wales, and the Duchess of 
Cumberland. She entirely shares her Muscovite son-in-law's 
antipathy to Emperor William, and has given great offence at 
Berlin. by absolutely refusing to stop there, even for an hour, 
on her way through to call on the reigning family. 

She has very old-fashioned and despotic ideas concerning 
the autocratic powers of Kings and Queens, and, far from at- 
tempting to soften the tyranical sides of Alexander III.'s char- 



206 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



acter, she rather fosters them. 



It is she, too, who is mainly 
responsible for 
Kin or Christian's 
absolute refusal 
to terminate the 
unconstitutional 
conflict which has 
so lonof existed 
between the Leo-- 
islature and the 
Executive, by 
giving way to the 
former. 

Queen Louise 
has now become 
completely deaf 
This, however, 
has neither di- 
minished her in- 
terest in politics, 
her taste for 
music, nor les- 
sened her vast 
private corre- 
spondence. 
These letters are 
all of the most wit- 
ty and interest- 
ing character, and 

KING OF DENMARK. •. r 

quite a number 
of them are remarkable for their match-making drifts, for Her 




THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK. 207 

Majesty is celebrated as one of the most persistent match- 
makers in Europe. 

Much of her time is spent in needlework, preparing birth- 
day presents for absent and present children, and writing 
letters to the ones who are abroad. These letters are gfen- 
erally about domestic subjects, and contain homely gossip 
about relatives at home and old and favorite servants. There 
are family meetings in summer at Fredensborg and Rumpen- 
heim. They include the Hesses of the Landravine branch, 
to which the Queen belongs. It was the marriage of her 
brother with the favorite daughter of the Czar Nicholas which 
was the origin of the singular and rapid ascent, in the ' Alma- 
nach de Gotha," of Christian and his family. He was, when 
that event took place a wretchedly poor lieutenant in the 
German army. 

Queen Louise had a German passion for etiquette, which 
keeps those who are not of her family and household at a 
distance. She does not approve of the French manners of 
the Princess Waldemar, who was hoydenish as a young girl ; 
has a greater taste for sports than needlework, and shows 
herself headstronor when eiven a lesson in manners and con- 
duct. The Princess longs to reside again in France, although 
the brilliant hunts at Chantilly and the parties in the splendid 
castle which followed them, entirely belong to the past and 
will never be revived. She wants to q-q somewhere on a 
voyage with Prince Waldemar, in compliment to whom she 
has tattooed naval emblems on her arm. 

The Court of Denmark is a very slow one, and the Queen's 
not naturally angelic temper has been rendered gloomy by 
the danger In which the Czarina is of being hoisted with the 
Czar into eternity on a Nihilist petard. 



2o8 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

While at Copenhagen last summer the Czar distinguished 
himself as a boxer, boxing having become the favorite form 
of exercise of this imperial Hercules. 

His great difficulty is, and has always been, to find any one 
ready or willing to stand up against him and to respond to 
each blow by a counter one. Neither his Russian brothers 
nor any of the dignitaries of his Court are particularly willing 
to oblige him in this matter, as they dread not only the force 
of his powerful fist, but also fear to incur his resentment in 
the event of their responding to his blows. • 

Indeed, the only man who ventures to put on the gloves 
with him and to meet him fairly and squarely is his young 
brother-in-law, young Waldemar, the Sailor Prince of Den- 
mark, 

Some time ago during the performance of one of Wagner's 
most wearisome operas, the Czar and the Prince withdrew to 
a vacant room and had a good set-to, which was on the point 
of ending fatally, for the Czar's huge fist struck Prince Wal- 
demar's chin with such force as to dash him to the ground, 
where he lay for a quarter of an hour before the Czar and his 
attendants could restore him to consciousness. 

The Czar would do well to abandon the gloves, for he is 
apparently unable to realize the extent of his strength, and 
does much damage with his sledo-e-hammer blows. Indeed, 
it was a blow such as this which struck his elder brother, the 
late Czarowitz Nicholas on the chest, and which enabled 
Alexander not only to marry one of the most attractive 
Princesses in Europe, but also to become the heir to, and 
eventually the occupant of the Russian Throne. 

The Czarina, Marie Feodorovna, is a woman of a very 
sweet disposition, but she has, as often as circumstances will 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK. 209 

allow her, the heroism to share her husband's danger, as for 
instance when she accompanied him on his visits to the cholera 
wards of the crowded St. Petersburg hospitals. 

The old Queen of Denmark never sees any one come into 
the room where she is, without fearing that she is going to 
hear of the assassination of Alexander III. and his wife. On 
learning she is mistaken, she devoutly thanks God. She 
often says it would be happier were the Czarina married to 
some Princelet whose life was safe until its natural course 
would be run. The King rides a good deal, and when he 
walks out has for his escort two immense dogs, of which I 
spoke above and who are the parents of the Czar's great 
dog and constant companion. All the Ro\'al Family are fond 
of music. The old Queen still plays duets on the piano- 
forte with her arandchildren. She often oroes to concerts to 

o o 

oblige musicians, and is fond of spectacular dramas, the action 
of which suororests the dialooue. 

The Danish queen dresses well and for the occasion of her 
golden wedding her gowns were especially magnificent and 
appropriate. It is noteworthy that they were not ordered 
from foreign modistes, but from an establishment in her hus- 
band's own capital. The " Golden-Bridal " robe was of gold 
brocade, trimmed with ostrich feathers ; it had a low-necked 
bodice, with high sleeves, held in place by large diamonds. 
Her Majesty's veil was ornamented with golden ears of corn, 
and she wore a parute of diamonds of extreme magnificence. 
For the State concert at the theatre she wore a scarlet velvet 
robe, trimmed with rich brocade. At the party given by the 
Crown Prince and Princess, the Queen was dressed in mauve 
velvet, with a trimming of brocade. And on the following 
Sunday, the good old lady was very smart in a toilette of 



2IO WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

heliotrope velvet and ecru — dress, mantle, and bonnet all 
enstdte. 

When at the Castle of Fredensborg the Royal Family leads 
a most patriarchal existence. This charming residence is 
twenty-five miles from Copenhagen. It was built in 1720 by 
Frederick IV,, of Denmark, shortly after the conclusion of 
the Treaty of Peace with Sweden, hence the name, " Fredens- 
borg" (the Castle of Peace), The centre portion of the edi- 
fice is higher than the wino-s and contains the famous dome 
hall. There are two wings, which on one side look out on 
the spacious courtyard, and on the other face the park. 

King Christian's apartments are in the centre, to the left of 
the hall, and look out on the marble garden. His study, — a 
delightful room — contains a vast collection of photographs, 
of all sizes, of the members of the Royal Family. The 
library, which is filled by several thousand books, adjoins the 
King's apartments, and a portion of his political correspond- 
ence is kept in it. The Queen's apartments are next, and 
they have superbly painted ceilings, and portraits of Scanda- 
navian beauties of the last century, which are let into tlie oak 
paneling. The red drawing-room is furnished in the roccoco 
style, and next to it is the morning room, furnished in the 
style of Louis XV., where are placed two grand pianos, upon 
which the Queen and her daughters used to play every day. 

The dinner, in spite of the easy-going ways of the Royal 
Family, is an affair of stiffness and etiquette, as the Maids of 
Honor (of whom the Queen has three, and who live in the 
Palace), the Master of the Ceremonies, the King's Adjutants, 
and the officers of the guard on duty, all dine at the same 
table as their Majesties. After dinner, they all retire to their 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK. 



211 



respective rooms, and reassemble at nine o'clock for tea, when 
the rest of the evening is spent in card-playing-. 

The King, as a rule, has a rubber of whist, and the rest of 
the party play a round game. Prince Waldemar, the "Sailor 
Prince," and the 
youngest of the 
family, when at 
Cope nhag en, 
lives in the so- 
called Yellow 
Palace, the same 
in which his par- 
ents lived before 
they were King 
and Queen, and 
where all their 
children, with 
this last excep- 
tion, were born. 
Prince Walde- 
mar, as I just 
mentioned, is 
united to Prin- 
cess Mary of Or- 
leans, daughter 
of the Due de 
Chartres. It is worth recording that this couple were married 
quite simply, without any ceremony, by the Maire of the 
Parisian arrondissement where the Princess lived. They have 
two sons, the eldest of whom. Prince George, not yet three 
years old, is the Queen's favorite companion in her daily drives. 




THE CROWN PRINXE AND FAMILY. 



212 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Crown Prince Frederick, who is already forty-six years of 
age, has seven children. He is a model father of a family, 
and an excellent type of Heir Apparent — studious, eloquent, 
amiable, rich, open-handed, and yet not extravagant. His 
wife, eight years his junior, is remarkable for her quick-wit- 
tedness and intelligfence. On her first advent at the Danish 
Court, she shocked it a little by her mode of dressing and her 
freedom of manners, but she has now toned down and fitted 
herself into the simple burgher old-world milieu. 

She is, moreover, famous for being the tallest and wealth- 
iest Princess in Europe. Her stature is absolutely gigantic, 
being over six feet two, and, so far as her fortune is con- 
cerned, she inherited ^15,000,000 from her maternal grand- 
father. Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, besides the entire 
wealth of her father, the late Kino- Charles of Sweden. She 
is extremely fond of Paris, a fact which is perhaps attributable 
to the existence of French blood in her veins, her father's 
father having been the famous French General, Bernadotte, 
who was adopted as heir to the Swedish throne by the child- 
less King Charles XIII. in 1802. Her grandmother, who 
died in i860, as Queen of Sweden and Norway, was Made- 
moiselle Desiree Clary, the daughter of a Marseilles stock- 
broker, who jilted Napoleon Bonaparte, afterwards first Em- 
peror of the French, in order to marry his comrade and class- 
mate, Bernadotte. 

Although devoted to the land of her birth. Queen Desiree 
never once visited it after the fall of Napoleon in 18 14, and 
her life can scarcely be said to have been a happy one. Berna- 
dotte was far from what can be called a model husband. 
During his lifetime he subjected her to much neglect and even 
downright cruelty. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK. 



213 



Oblivious of his own humble origin, he was everlastingly 
taunting her with her bourgeoise birth. A strange story, in- 
deed, mieht be written of the misfortunes which have befallen 
every one of the women who have been raised from the ranks 
of the people to seats on the thrones of Europe. Josephine 
de Beauharnais, her daughter. Queen Hortense, Eugenie de 
Montijo, and Nathalie de Ketchko, have each in turn contrib- 
uted sad chapters to the history of the heroines of Royal ro- 
mance, and have paid dearly for their greatness. 

The Crown Princess of Denmark is said to have inherited 
her magnificent eyes from her grandmother, Queen Desiree, 
but certainly not her height, since Bernadotte's consort was 
extremely petite and piquante. Bernadotte, himself, however, 
was very tall. 

The Danish civil list is not long, especially since the loss 
of the Duchies. All included, it scarcely amounts to two 
million francs ($200,000) ; nevertheless, the Royal couple are 
most liberal. The Queen especially takes a lively and per- 
sonal interest in all the charitable institutions existing in the 
realm, and, above all, in asylums or hospitals for children, as 
she is essentially a child's friend. 

The Kine of Denmark's orandson, Prince Frederick, son 
of the Crown Prince and Princess, is about twenty-two years 
old now, and recently he was very much captivated by the 
charms of an actress at the Theatre Royal. She was a good, 
honest girl, and lived, according to the Copenhagen fashion, 
with her parents, respectable bourgeois of the city. Prince 
Frederick called upon her ; but as soon as this came to the 
ears of Grandmamma Louise, commands were laid upon him 
to drop the acquaintance, and word was sent to the parents 



214 • WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

that they must not receive the Prince's visits ; and both par- 
ties submitted to this ukase actually without a murmur. 

The golden wedding festivities at Copenhagen recalled 
memories of the famous Countess Banner, who occupied at 
the Court of King Christian's predecessor, Frederick VII., 
the same position as Mme. de Pompadour filled at that of 
Kinor Louis XV. of France. Towards the close of Frede- 
rick's reign, he married the Countess morganatically. She 
was a French woman by birth, and in her earlier da^^s had 
been the first assistant of the once famous Parisian modiste, 
Mme. Charpentier. To the very last she retained her skill 
with needle and scissors, and it is no secret that both the 
Princess of Wales and the Czarina of Russia are indebted for 
much of their knowledg-e and skill in dress to this morcranatic 
aunt of theirs. A thing which most people seem to have for- 
gotten is the fact that the first and royal-born wife of King 
Frederick of Denmark, from whom he was divorced, died 
only a few months ago in her grand and historical old Cha- 
teau of Glucksburg. The daughter of a king herself, she was 
too high-spirited to submit in silence to her husband's avowed 
and openly displayed preference for the dressmaker, and ac- 
cordingly she secured a divorce. Three months after it had 
become law she contracted a second marriage with Duke 
Charles of Schleswig-Holstein, and from that time forth until 
the day of her death, at the advanced age of ninety-three, she 
was known by the name of the Duchess Wilhelmine. 

Her castle of Glucksburg is now being fitted up as the 
residence of the German Emperor's brother-in-law, Duke 
Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein, who is married to the eldest 
sister of the Empress Augusta Victoria. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

MONTENEGRO. 

WHEN at length, after several weary hours of slow rid- 
inof over the most vile of mountain roads, the euide 
exclaims, " There is Cettigne," the traveller is apt to gaze 
with utter astonishment and dismay at the few miserable huts 
in the midst of a vast plain, which is closed in on every side 
by bare and wild-looking crags and peaks. 

It requires some few moments indeed to realize the fact 
that those few thatched-roof hovels constitute the capital of 
the nation which, notwithstanding its small size, Is a perpetual 
source of discord to the great powers of Europe, and a per- 
fect thorn in the side of the unfortunate Ottoman Empire. 
The city — if a city it can be called — is composed of two 
streets, which cross each other at right angles. The more 
important one of the two is practically a prolongation of the 
road which leads up from the port of Catarro, and terminates 
in the courtyard of the only inn or hotel of the place, which is 
a heavy-looking two-storied building. The other houses of 
the town in almost every case consist of one single room, 
which constitutes not only the parlor, dining and bed-room, 
but even the kitchen and stable. As a rule, there are no 
windows, only a doorway, and the houses are built of roughly 
hewn stones held together with a mortar made of mud. 

There are about a hundred of these residences in the 
Montenegrin capital, the population of which does not ex- 

C215) 



2l6 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



ceed i,ooo inhabitants. The length of the capital is about 3,000 
yards and its width about 100. There are no monuments, with 
the exception of a little tower perched on the hillside where 
formerly the heads of the Turks killed in battle were ex- 
posed. The monas- 
tery, which is on 
another hillside, 
forms the residence 
of the Bishop of 
Montenegro, and 
the " Bigliardo," as 
the ruins of the 
former Palace of 
the Princess are 
still called, is now 
used as a printing 
office, from which 
are issued, as vou 
may well imagine, 
some very peculiar 
letters, circulars, 
and other kinds of 
commercial print- 
ing, entirely differ- 
ent in appearance 
and general make- 
up from English or 
American specimens. The reason for the peculiar name of 
" Bigliardo '' is owing to the immense sensation — which 
indeed has not yet subsided — created by the arrival at the 
capital of a full-sized billiard-table, which was imported by 




PRINCE OF MONTENEGRO. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONTENEGRO. 21 7 

the predecessor of the reigning Prince and conveyance of 
which from the seaport to the old palace at Cettigne 
necessitated the services of over sixty men. 

The only building, in fact, of the whole place, which looks 
halfvvays civilized, is the Palace, which resembles one of those 
villas of retired shopkeepers that abound in the suburbs of 
Paris. 

It is surrounded on every side by a high wall. The en- 
trance hall, decorated with trophies and panoplies of arms, is 
cold and uninviting, and a straight and steep staircase leads 
up to the great salon, which is sumptuously furnished. The 
walls are hidden by Gobelins and fine pieces of Oriental tap- 
estry. On the right-hand side hangs a full-length portrait of 
Prince Danilo, the predecessor and uncle of the reigning 
prince, and of Princess Darinka, his wife. Full-length por- 
traits of the Czar, of the present Emperor and Empress of 
Russia, and the Emperor and Empress of Austria, of Princess 
Milena, the reigning Princess, complete the collection. A 
vast amount of valuable furniture and bric-a-brac, especially 
porcelain and bronze works of art, most of which have been 
presented by Russian noblemen, are scattered about in pro- 
fusion. In one corner, on a table, can be seen the monster 
silver Samovar presented to the Prince in 1869 at Moscow by 
the Panslavist Committee. The adjoining salons are equally 
richly furnished, but there is an absence of that artistic taste 
requisite to set off all these chef d'ceuvres to their best ad- 
vantage. It is just that, probably, which prevents the con- 
trast being too marked between the civilization inside the 
palace and the barbarism outside. 

Nicolas Petrowich Niegos, better known as Prince Nikita, 
who succeeded to the sovereignty of Montenegro in i860, is 



2l8 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

45 years of age. His manners are cordial, frank and capti- 
vating. He is very tall and now becoming somewhat stout 
The features are strongly marked, the hair is thick and raven 
black, and the eye is brilliant and penetrating. The voice is 
hearty and sympathetic in tone. His mustache and whiskers 
are trimmed to resemble those of the late Czar. His 
strength is prodigious, and his skill in all sports is pre-emi- 
nent, even in a country where every male inhabitant prides 
himself thereon. He is a splendid rider, and a first-rate shot. 
He never wears anything but the national costume, which is 
composed of a kind of white woolen tunic, with tight sleeves, 
and opening on the chest so as to show a scarlet waistcoat. 
Gold embroidered leather leggings or moccasins, and dark 
blue knickerbockers, complete the attire. 

The head-dress is the national " Kappa," a kind of red cap 
with black silk borders. The Prince was educated at Paris at 
the Lycee Louis-le-Grand, and talks French perfectly. 

His wife, the daughter of the late Gen. Vuco witch, whom 
he married in i860, is about 40 years of age. The cast of 
her features is unusually pure and delicate in its conforma- 
tion. She has an abundance of beautiful brown hair, and a 
pair of magnificent, soft black eyes, which can only be com- 
pared with velvet. Ten years ago she was acknowledged to 
be the most beautiful woman of a country where all the men 
are handsome and all the women are classically beautiful. 
The birth of ten children in somewhat rapid succession has 
somewhat diminished her former good looks, traces of which, 
however, remain. 

The Princess, who has travelled but little, talks French with 
difficulty, and is singularly shy and retiring. The eldest 
daughter, Zorka, was brought up at St. Petersburg, and is 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONTENEGRO. 2I9 

married to Prince Karageorgewitch, son of the former ruler 
of Servia, and himself a pretender to King Alexander's 
throne. 

The heir to the sovereignty of Montenegro, Prince Danilo, 
is a fine^ clever, and well-built young fellow of twenty-one, 
who is the particular favorite of his father. 

The reigning Prince generally gets up rather late of a morn- 
ing and then walks over to the Senate, where he either works 
in his own rooms or confers with the members of that body. 
Subsequendy, attended by a few guards, he takes a leisurely 
walk through the streets of his little capital, stopping from 
time to time to talk with those of his subjects who avail them- 
selves of this favorable opportunity to make their wishes 
known to him. Frequendy he sits down for a few moments' 
rest on the stone balustrade of the public fountain, and, like 
in biblical times, lends while there a willing ear to any peti- 
tion or address which may be presented to him. 

Towards 2 o'clock he returns to the palace for a family 
luncheon, and after a short nap, starts off on his daily ride 
around the plain of Cettigne. 

In the evening, before dinner, the Prince again wanders 
forth through the streets. It is just the moment when, the 
day's work being done, the inhabitants of the place are loung- 
ing lazily about, smoking and chatting, and the whole scene, 
witli its rich costumes, is one which flavors more of the Orient 
than of civilized Europe. The dinner takes place at eight. 
The cooking is excellent, and the number of services innu- 
merable. The Montenecrrin custom of servinor a dish of 
preserved fruit between each course is adhered to, and the 
mixture of perfect French cuisine and native dishes and cus- 
toms is most peculiar. The Prince himself eats but sparingly, 



220 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

and prefers, above everything else, a dish of " castradina," 
which consists of smoked goat's meat. 

After dinner a short half-hour is spent in the salons, and 
then the Prince and his friends adjourn to the billiard room on 
the ground floor, where half the nights are spent in smoking, 
playing cards, and billiards, and in looking over the Vie 
Parisie7ine, the youTual Amusant, and other French papers. 

As the Prince gets up late, he is in no hurry to go to bed, 
and, like all Montenegrins, he is a great gambler. His part- 
ners at es carte and other games of cards, are his cousin 
Radovich, who was educated in France, and who acts as Min- 
ister of Foreign Affairs, and the General of the Montenegrin 
forces, who likewise received rnuch of his training in France. 

One characteristic trait is worth mentioning which not even 
his Parisian education has been able to eradicate from the 
Prince's mind. If a girl is born in a family it is looked upon 
as a divine punishment. No one would dare congratulate a 
father on the birth of a girl. On the contrary, in the case of 
Prince as well as peasant, the parents are so ashamed of 
themselves they do not venture to appear in public for a fort- 
night. The birth of a son, however, is the subject of great 
rejoicings. 

Far more attractive than the present Princess of Montene- 
gro, was her predecessor, the Princess Darinka, widow of the 
late Prince, and with whom I was much more intimately ac- 
quainted, than with the reigning Prince and Princess. It is 
just about a year ago that she breathed her last at Venice in a 
great melancholy palace washed by the waters of the lagoons. 
It is impossible to imagine a more poetical apparition than 
this woman, who, during the time of her short reign, was 
honored, nay, almost worshipped, as a saint, by her rough 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONTENEGRO. 221 

Montenegrin subjects. When I first had the pleasure of be- 
coming acquainted with the Princess, she was still one of the 
loveliest women whom it has been my fortune to meet. She 
looked so ethereal and spiritual that she reminded one of the 
portraits of saints in the leaves of an old missal, and the en- 
thusiasm and adoration she had aroused in the breasts of 
her faithful mountaineers seemed but natural. 

Her marriage to Prince Danilo — the first temporal Sover- 
eign of Montenegro, the country having previously been gov- 
erned by spiritual Princes — Archbishops who wore the mitre in- 
stead of the princely crown — was quite a romance. Handsome 
young Vladika Danilo lost his heart to the fair daughter of a 
wealthy Triestine merchant, Kvekvic by name, and bearing 
down all objections to this unequal match by his iron resolution, 
led the fifteen-year-old Darinka to the altar, February 12, 1855. 

The war between Turkey and Montenegro was at the time 
on the wane, but shortly after the marriage of the Prince 
the hostilities were renewed with greater violence than ever, 
and the women of Monteneo-ro caused a banner to be em- 
broidered in Ragusa, whereon the exquisite features of the 
new Princess were traced in silks and gold. 

" She will be our guiding saint in this holy war, and will 
lead our husbands on to victory," they said, as they presented 
the banner to the Sovereign. 

On the battlefield of Grahova, the flag was badly torn by 
bullets, and one of them pierced the little white hands crossed 
on the breast of the image, and cut in two the taper finger 
on which was the wedding ring. This was considered a very 
evil omen by the superstitious Montenegrins, who declared 
that it betokened Prince Danilo's speedy death. This popu- 
lar prediction was soon to be realized, for in i860, on August 



222 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



13, as Danilo and his beloved consort were passing through 
Cattaro, on their way to Perzanio, the Prince was shot in the 
back and mortally wounded by one Thoso Kadisch, a member 
of the Vladika family. The despair of the Princess can bet- 
ter be imagined than 
described. She pros- 
trated herself over 
her dying husband's 
body and could hard- 
ly be separated from 
him even after he ex- 
pired. Her strength 
of mind and her 
soo thine influence 
over the Montene- 
grins, nevertheless, 
prevented a revolu- 
tion from breaking 
out, and it was owing 
to her energetical ef- 
forts that Prince 
Nikita, D a n i 1 o ' s 
nephew, ' was pro- 
claimed without blood- 
shed as the ruler of 
the country. 
I well remember the day when, seated in the dimly lighted 
boudoir of her Venetian Palace, the unfortunate Princess re- 
lated to me the tragedy of Cattaro, Coming from her lips it 
was so impressive and moving that I shuddered as I listened 
to her passionate words. A grand creature, indeed, was this 




PRINCESS OF MONTENEGRO. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONTENEGRO. 223 

woman, who for so many years had kept in her heart the re- 
membrance of her murdered love as vividly as during the 
days when she was his cherished wife. 

My personal experience of Montenegrins has been of a 
romantic if somewhat unpleasant nature, and I may therefore 
be pardoned if I indulge in a little bit of personal reminiscence 
whilst talking about the matter. 

It was during the campaign of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 
i^j'j-'j^. I was very young then, and consequently full of 
enthusiasm and exaggerated ideas of the "duty of woman." 

When the regiment of which my husband was colonel re- 
ceived its marching orders, the wife of the lieutenant-colonel, 
Count X., and myself, obtained, not without a good deal of 
trouble, permission to follow the regiment to the field of war. 

Our first weeks of " campaigning " were devoted to nursing 
the sick and tending the wounded. In spite of all that may 
be said to the contrary by idealists, it is not a pleasant task, 
and many a time have I cried very bitter tears at the sight of 
some strong young soldier crippled for life by the bullets of 
the enemy. Habit, how^ever, is a great master, and with time 
I became so well used to life in camp-ambulances that I really 
considered myself as cool and collected in the accomplishment 
of my self-imposed duties as any hardened army-surgeon 
among us. 

No country on the face of our unfortunate planet has been 
oftener ravaged, no land oftener soaked wuth the blood of its 
inhabitants than the portion of the Balkan Peninsula which 
our troops were occupying. Everything around us had been 
desolated by fire and bloodshed as severely as during the first 
invasions of the barbarians, hundreds of years before. Very 
grand, but very dreary and sad, was the landscape with its 



224 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



wonderful defiles, its high mountains enclosing rushing 
streams. The sand-stone rocks, worn by erosion into fan- 
tastic forms worthy of Gustave Dore, took in the twilight the 
shapes of huge dragons, lions, or other equally terrific-look- 
ing objects. Then came the deserted plains, with here and 
there cottages built of clay on foundation of dry stones and 
covered with pieces of wood, from which the inhabitants fled 
in terror. It was difficult to procure food for the army. The 
culture is always poor in this wild land, and now everything 
had been pillaged. 

Shortly after the defeat of the Bosnians by our forces be- 
tween Zepee and Maglia, our brigade was camping at the foot 
of some high and precipitous cliffs some miles from Zepee, 
our regiment being separated from the army corps by a superb 
defile of steep rocks. It was the most romantic site imagin- 
able, plentifully wooded with oaks, beeches and elms ; but the 
very narrow road winding between the cliffs was gruesome 
in the extreme in its loneliness and awe-inspiring grandeur. 

One afternoon I had ridden over from our camp, a distance 
of ten miles or so, to the other side of the defile, where 
Countess X. was visiting her uncle, the general in command 
of the brigade. It was oettino- toward dusk when I ordered 
my horse with a view to riding back to our camp before night. 
I refused the escort which the general most kindly pressed 
me to accept, for I knew that I would be far safer alone than 
,when accompanied by soldiers wearing the hated uniform of 
the army of occupation. Besides this, as I have said before, 
I was very romantic in those days, and I preferred not to ex- 
pose any fellow-creatures to the bullets and yatagans of the 
dreaded Montenegrins, who were known to be always in am- 
bush in the mountain passes. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONTENEGRO. 225 

After having succeeded in persuading the general of my 
perfect safety, I mounted my black charger, " Dare Devil," 
ind was about to start off at a brisk canter, when the dear 
old gentleman, putting his hand to the pommel of my saddle 
csnd coming close to me, whispered, " Take care, my child. 
It would never do for you to be caught carrying dispatches." 
I laughed gaily to reassure him, but nevertheless I knew full 
well how true his words were, for, indeed, it would very 
likely mean death to me. 

The fact was, that seeing me determined to ride back to 
camp alone, the general, who felt certain that a woman pro- 
tected by the " brassard " of the Red Cross stood a better 
chance of passing unharmed through the defile than any 
member of his staff, had intrusted to me a dispatch of the ut- 
most importance. It was written in cypher on a tiny scrap 
of flimsy paper, and rolling it tightly I had inserted it in the 
woodcock quill which was so jauntily stuck in the band of my 
military cap. 

As I rode alone in the cratherinor aloom, I orlanced once or 
twice at the two revolvers in my holsters with a feeling of 
confidence, for I was a neat shot, and I knew that I was per- 
fectly capable of defending myself if attacked. The trouble, 
however, was that those terrible Montenegrins lay in hiding 
just behind jutting rocks, and that their mode .of procedure 
consisted in shooting the unsuspecting travelers who ventured 
through the mountain passes like so many rabbits in a war- 
ren, or sometimes in swiftly pouncing upon them from their 
places of concealment and making them prisoners before they 
had time to defend themselves. 

The road was frightfully rough and uneven, for it was 

nothing else than the dried-up bed of a mountain torrent, full 
15 



226 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

of sharp stones and bits of yellow quartz. I picked my way 
carefully in the fast-decreasing evening light, much to the 
disgust of my fretful young horse, who curveted from side 
to side in a most uncomfortable manner. Fortunately, as I 
reached the beginning of the defile, the moon, like a huge 
silver lamp, rose from behind the mountains, lighting up the 
path with dazzling brilliancy, but leaving the steep rock walls 
and densely wooded precipitous slopes on both sides in inky 
darkness. The road was less difficult now, but I could not 
avail myself of this favorable circumstance to give my impa- 
tient horse his head, for I realized that should any Montene- 
grin be lying in wait behind these dark ramparts anything 
like flight on my part would surely hasten my fate. 

Never had I before this noticed how loud a noise is pro- 
duced by the hoofs of a horse on hard ground. It seemed as 
if all the mountain echoes had been awakened by Dare 
Devil's really elastic step; again and again I peered first on 
one side, then on the other, imagining that this unearthly ra- 
ta-ta would at every moment bring something peculiarly un- 
desirable about my ears. I cannot say that I was precisely 
frightened, I never was much of a coward, but I felt a certain 
tightening around my heart which I scorned and for which I 
was very angry with myself. 

I had reached the middle of the pass, which was very 
narrow at that point, and I was beginning to think that noth- 
ing was likely to happen to me after all, when, without the 
slightest warning, four gigantic figures rushed upon me, two 
from each side of the pass, and before I could even dream of 
seizing my revolvers, Dare Devil had been brouglit to a 
sudden and most disagreeable standstill by an iron grip, and 
I myself felt that both my hands were being dextrously tied 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONTENEGRO. 22 7 

behind my back. This was shame, indeed, for so brave a 
little soldier in petticoats as I fondly imagined myself to be, 
and at the consciousness of the indignity to which I was be- 
ing subjected all my courage revived. Luckily I spoke half 
a dozen dialects of this part of the world well enough to 
make myself understood. 

" What do you mean by making a woman prisoner ? " I 
cried. Then, as it flashed upon me that my address was 
hardly of a conciliatory nature, I added more gently: "Since 
when have the brave sons of Monteneoro sunk so low as to 
go to war with girls ? " 

The moon shown so brightly that I could see a smile flicker 
on the superbly handsome bronzed features of the huge fellow 
who was holdinof on to Dare Devil's bridle. 

" We do not wish to harm you," he replied softly, " provided 
you mean no tricks." 

"Tricks ! " I exclaimed indignandy. "Fine tricks I am able 
to play when you have begun b)' putting me hors de combat. 
Shame on you ! Don't you see the Red Cross on my arm ? 
I am — " Here I slighdy hesitated. "I am a sort of Sister 
of Mercy — do you understand? And many are the men of 
your race whom I have nursed back to health during the last 
few months." 

"We know it well, and also that you are Princess R. wife 
of the commander of these devils of White Lancers, down 
yonder. We are not ungrateful for what you have done, and 
if you are ready to swear that you are carrying no dispatches 
we will take your word for it, and let you go free; other- 
wise;" continued the man, who seemed, judging by his gor- 
geous costume, to be a chief, "we will make you a prisoner 



2 28. WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

in good earnest, and — " he finished his sentence with a ges- 
ture by no means reassuring. 

This was a pretty mess, forsooth ! I collected my wits as 
best I could; and, glaring furiously at him, I replied, drawing 
myself up so far as my pinioned arms would allow me to do : 
"I refuse to answer your impudent question. If you think I 
am a likely object to be entrusted with dispatches, execute 
your threats, make me a prisoner ; it will be an easy job and 
a glorious victory ! " — this with a derisive laugh, " Search 
me ! kill me ! if so be your pleasure, but pray put an end to 
this disgraceful scene." 

A queer little creature I must have looked on my struggling 
steed, with my short scarlet kilt, spurred boots, white dolman 
and dashing military cap, through which the ominous wood- 
cock's quill seemed to burn a hole into my thick crop of short 
curls ! My captors looked at me for a moment, then at each 
other. They were a long time making up their minds — at 
least it appeared so to me. 

Finally, at a sign from my interlocutor, one of them untied 
my hands. 

"You are right. Princess, we do not fight women," said he, 
baring his head, "and especially when they are brave like 
you. Go in peace. Had you been afraid of us, things would 
have turned out differently; but we admire a virtue on which, 
above all others, we pride ourselves. This pass is not safe, 
as you have had reason to find out to your cost, and we shall 
accompany you until you are in hearing of your sentries, but 
believe me, do not tempt Providence thus again." As he said 
this, the handsome chief let go Dare Devil's bridle, a circum- 
stance of which this well-named animal immediately availed 
himself by bolting with lightning rapidity. It was no easy 



A 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONTENEGRO. 2 29 

task to rein him in, but I did so, not wishing to look as if I 
meant to run away. 

In silence we proceeded on our way, my stalwart body- 
guards keeping pace with me all the time. At the end of the 
pass, which we reached some twenty minutes later, the camp- 
fires became discernible, glittering like over-grown glow- 
worms on the dark plain. I stopped my horse, and, beckon- 
ing to the chief, I said, not without emotion : 

" You have been very generous, I shall not forget it. Pray 
accept this as a little token of my gratitude," and I handed 
him my two revolvers, which were jewels of their kind. 

With a bow worthy of a throne-room, the young man 
thrust them in his broad belt, which bristled already with 
weapons of the most forbidding aspect, then pressing most 
deferentially to his lips the hand I extended to him, he turned 
on his heel and, followed by his imperturbable subordinates, 
he vanished as he had come in the darkness. 

Within a very few minutes I answered the sentry's chal- 
lenge and rode at a hard gallop into camp. I could not easily 
have analyzed my somewhat mingled feelings, but until the 
end of the campaign I repaid the wounded Montenegrins who 
fell in our hands by extra care, and extra devotion, for the 
chivalrous conduct of the unknown chief who had proved to 
me a friend indeed, as well as a friend in need. 

Two years later I was staying with my husband at the house 
of the Austrian Envoy at Cettigne. On the eve of my de- 
parture a great dinner, to which several Montenegrin digni- 
taries were invited, was given in our honor. Shortly before 
we entered the dining-room, a tall and remarkably handsome 
Montenegrin made his appearance in the drawing-room. 
Where had I seen this superb specimen of manhood ? These 



230 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

great, dark-blue eyes, fringed with abnormally long lashes? 
This finely chiseled chin ? This beautifully curved mouth, 
shaded by a long, silky mustache ? Suddenly I remembered 

my captor of the C Pass. On the impulse of the moment 

I started to my feet and, much to the amazement of my hosts, 
I rushed up to the hero of my adventure and, extending both 
hands to him, I exclaimed : 

" How happy I am to see you — " 

A puzzled expression on his face urged me to add, stupidly : 

" Surely you cannot have forgotten me ! " 

" No, I have not," said he, while a decided blush overspread 
his dark skin, " but remember, Princess, that when I last saw 
you you were a little soldier, while now — " His sentence re- 
mained unfinished, much to my satisfaction. There was a 
slightly awkward pause, and then, pointing to the silken, 
pearl-studded belt which encircled his slim waist, he showed 
me my two little jeweled revolvers. 

" I have worn them ever since," said he, " in remembrance 
of—" 



THE REIGNING FAMILY 

OF 

MONACO. 

IT is difficult to conceive a more thoroughly contemptible 
personage than the Sovereign of Monaco, the owner of 
the Great Gambling Hell at Monte Carlo, who, notwith- 
standing his affectation of religion and science, is more or 
less cold shouldered at most of the royal and imperial courts 
of Europe, both on account of the infamous source whence 
the main portion of his revenues is derived, and also in 
consequence of circumstances in connection with his first 
marriage. 

Of the crowning indignity to which he attempted to 
subject his former wife, Lady Mary Hamilton, and which led 
her to final flight from beneath his roof, it is impossible for 
me to speak. It will be sufficient to state that both the 
Prince of Wales and the King of the Belgians, who are 
acquainted with the true facts of the case — and neither of 
them can certainly be accused of any inordinate prudery — 
absolutely declined until a short time ago all social inter- 
course whatever with His Hio^hness of Monaco. There is 
one insult, however, of which the Prince was guilty towards 
his wife, which, although known to but few, was the origin of 
the bond of sympathy between the Princess and the Count 
Tassilo Festetics de Tolna, her present husband. 

The Prince, one beautiful moonlight evening, was enter- 
taining a number of masculine friends at supper in the old 
castle at Monte Carlo. The fun grew fast and furious. Sud- 
denly the Prince exclaimed : 



2^2 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

"Gentlemen, I invite you to witness a spectacle such as 
you have never witnessed before. The Princess, my wife, is 
accustomed to bathe daily towards one or two o'clock in the 
morning, when all the remainder of the world is asleep, and 
to spend almost an hour swimming about in the sea at the 
foot of the palace steps. Come, let us look on, and then 
surprise her with an ovation. Come, gentlemen, I say, it is a 
sight for the gods ! " 

One alone of the guests present had the courage and 
chivalry to raise his voice against the outrage, and to 
denounce the Prince as he deserved. It was Count Tassilo 
F'estetics, one of the proudest and wealthiest nobles of Hun- 
gary. By some means or other, Princess Mary, who is the 
only sister of the Duke of Hamilton, became acquainted 
with her husband's project and with the Count's opposition 
thereto. She never forgave the one nor forp-ot the other. 
The conduct of the Prince merely served to increase the 
intense abhorrence with which she regarded him, while the 
chivalrous behavior of Tassilo Festetics stirred up the very 
depths of her heart. She had at the time no one to whom 
she could turn for sympathy and advice, for it had been her 
own mother, the late Duchess of Hamilton, nee Princess of 
Baden, who, in conjunction with Napoleon III., had forced 
her into the hateful alliance with the hereditary Prince of 
Monaco. • 

A strong friendship soon sprang up betv/een the Princess 
and the Count, and when at last, in 1880, that is ten years 
later, the Vatican finally consented to annul the marriage, 
though maintaining the legitimacy of the boy, who consti- 
tuted the sole issue thereof, the ex-Princess of Monaco 
became Countess Festetics de Tolna, the wife of one of the 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONACO. 



233 



most brilliant sportsmen and most popular grand seigneurs 
of all Europe. 

Although almost twenty years have passed since the day 
when Lady Mary fled from the Casde of Monte Carlo, and 
took refuge with Queen Henrietta of Belgium at Brussels, 




A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO. 

she was still, when I saw her seven years ago, one of the 
most captivating of women ; and she is beloved and admired 
by all who have the privilege of knowing her. 

Her ex-husband, the present ruler of Monaco, a few years 
ago contracted a new marriage with the widowed Duchess 



234 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

of Richelieu, a lady who, although she has been married 
twice, on each occasion to a rake and a roue of the worst 
description, has succeeded in retaining intact the enormous 
fortune that she received from her father, the wealthy Jewish 
banker of New Orleans and Paris, Michel Heine. She is a 
full-blooded Jewess of the blond type, and exceedingly attrac- 
tive in appearance. Her cousin. Marguerite Heine, the 
daughter of Charles, the junior partner of the banking house, 
was formerly the Duchess d'Elchingen and is now the wife of 
the jolly and rotund Duke of Rivoli. It was this lady whose 
first husband met with his death under such tragical circum- 
stances in the suburbs of Paris in 1881. 

The Duke of Elchingen had been led by his terrible 
depravity to place himself, like the famous British Prime Minis- 
ter, the first Lord Londonderry, in the power of a gang of ruth- 
less blackmailers, who knew and traded on his horrible secret. 
One day, when their demands had been more than usually 
extortionate, and when he had been reduced to the verge of 
insanity by the fearful orgies in which he indulged, he finally 
blew his brains out in the very house where all the scenes 
of his Tiberian debaucheries had taken place. 

The only thing that the Prince of Monaco has done 
towards redeeming his evil reputation and atoning for his 
past, is his recent research into the nature of marine currents 
and into the conditions of animal life at a great depth beneath 
the surface. His labors in these directions have already won 
him access to the French Academie des Sciences, and may, 
when they have been carried further, earn for him enduring 
fame in the scientific world. This work was begun about six 
years ago. The system which he adopted was to lay floats 
in a straight line, with a view of getting at the direction of 






THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONACO. 



235 



the surface of the water. These floats are of a peculiar 
character and consist of two semicircles of leather put together 
and rendered impermeable. Inside the hollow sphere thus 
formed are placed slips of paper, written in seven or eight 
different languages, requesting the finder to send back the 
float to the Prince, with information as to where it had been 
picked up. 

Out of about 1,000 floats put into the water, the 
Prince has already received back between 200 and 300, some 
being sent from the southern coast of Morocco by men little 
better than savages, while he recently received two from the 
Bermudas, which had been four years in the water. From 
the experiments he has already made, he feels certain that 
there is a circular movement in the Atlantic, with its center 
towards the southwest of the Azore Islands. 

As I have mentioned above, the present Princess de 
Monaco is the daughter of Michel Heine, who was nearly 
related to the poet, Heinrich Heine, and whose uncle, the cele- 
brated banker, Solomon Heine, left at his death a fortune of 
30,000,000 francs. 

Marie Heine, ex-Duchess de Richelieu, is the first woman 
of Hebrew origin who has ever become the legitimate wife 
of a reigning Prince. She is a Catholic, but the Heine family 
belongs to la haute Juiverie. She has already announced 
her intention of transforming the Casino of Monte Carlo into 
a kind of hospital for the poor and ailing who require a warm 
climate for their delicate health, as soon as the present 
tenancy of M. Blanc, "Prince" Roland Bonaparte and Prince 
Radzivill — the three lessees of the public gaming tables — 
expires. She is determined, if possible, to wipe out, by means 
of charity and benevolence, the infamous souvenirs of the 



236 



WltMlN ROYAL PALACES. 



place, and to devote a portion of her vast wealth to this 
purpose. It was the knowledge of these intentions on her 
part that led Queen Victoria to treat her with marked courtesy 




THE FAMOUS THEATRE OF MONTE CARLO. 

on the occasion of her last visit to England, and to accord 
for the first time any sort of recognidon to her husband. 

The o-aming tables of Monte Carlo have been the cause 
of so mtch misfortune that the Emperor of Russia at one 
time forbade any of his subjects to enter the Principality of 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONACO. 



237 



Monaco. This interdiction was caused by the large number 
of weahhy Russians who have been ruined at Monte Carlo, 
during the past few years. 

The following anecdote goes far to show how slight are 




ANTE-ROOM IN THE FAMOUS CASINO. 



the chances which even the richest among the habitues of the 
roulette table have of winning persistently. 

The late M. Blanc, the creator of the Salles-de-jeu • of 
Monte Carlo, was asked one day by an acquaintance why no 




A PegORATJVB PANSl. IN TKE QASINO, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONACO. 239 

one had ever invented a " system " by which it would become 
possible to win with absolute certainty. 

"My dear friend," exclaimed M. Blanc, "I will answer 
your question when you have answered one which I am about 
to put to you. How much capital do you put aside to play 
with ? ' ' 

" Very litde," replied M. X. 

"Well, how much, about?" 

" Oh ! 300 to 400 francs." 

"And you win ? " 

"Yes, but" 

"You need say no more, I know how you do it." 

"Nevertheless, if everybody were to win as regularly as 
I do, even small sums, it would end by telling on the profits 
of the Salles-de-jeu." 

"To speak plainly," continued M. Blanc, with a smile, 
"all is in my favor here. Mankind is naturally given to 
gambling. Gamblers are at once conceited, rash and head- 
strong ; the odds are in my favor, and I have a limit. I told 
you that I know how you win ; it is simply this : you, too, have 
a limit — very far below mine, of course, — but you keep it, — 
here lies the secret of your luck ! " 

The Chateau of Monaco, as it is generally termed, is a 
white stone buildinof with towers, one of which suffered in the 
earthquake of 1887, and has since been under repair. It was 
originally a fortress, and a very strong one, as the remains 
of a round tower, ramparts, and bastions testify, as well as 
the entrances to the Hill of Monaco, which are protected 
severally by gateway and guard-house. 

The Palace itself is under the surveillance of a fort built 
on the French side and overlooks it, One approach is by a 



240 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



long paved incline, the other by a steep road bordered on one 
side by sea wall bristling with the spikes of the aloe and 
prickly pear. Strangers are not admitted as residents, so 
that there is but one inn — an old-fashioned, unsavory-looking 
place — where, however, pensionnaires are received and the 
dinner with wine is advertised on a placard outside at 30 cents 
per head. Once inside the gates, driving along the public 
road, dotted here and there with villas, is like going through 
a garden gay with flowers, graceful, red-berried pepper tree, 
and hedges of scarlet geraniums. Some of the paths are so 
circuitous and narrow that two carriages coming from oppo- 
site sides, wishing to pass, would have to jump over each 
other, as goats are reported to do when meeting on some 
mountainous ridge. There are some good shops and a 
market on alternate days with that held at Monte Carlo, a 
college for Jesuits, a convent for girls, a large hospital, a post- 
office, and a mint, since Monaco coins its own money, as well 
as has its own stamps. 

Then there is the Cathedral and the barracks in the Place 
d'Armes, where the Liliputian army, consisting of twelve 
officers and seventy men, is quartered and drilled. 

The Palace itself stands on this plateau, at the highest 
point perched on the rock, a rock that blossoms like a rose in 
spring and to which flowers seem to take as naturally as to 
the soil of the garden below it. Under the trees that orna- 
ment the Place d'Armes a marble bust of the late Prince has 
been placed. In the Cour d'Honneur, some marble stairs in 
the form of a horseshoe, similar to those at Fontainebleau, 
lead into the Gallery of Hercules, where frescoes by Luca 
Cambiasco may be seen delineated on the walls, represent- 
ing the many labors of that muscular gentleman. The Palace 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF MONACO. 



241 



was only completed during the i6th century, by Honore II., 
the first Grimaldi who assumed the name of Prince, and it 
was he who, having passed all his youth at Milan, introduced 
into Monaco the luxury to which he had always been accus- 
tomed. 

The staircase, as well as the Cour d'Honneur, was built 
by Louis I., who, prodigal in the purchase of objects d'art, 
left six large shiploads of gems, goldsmiths' work, etc., to 
be transported to Monaco after his death. In the entrance 
are four pictures by Brughel. The state rooms are only 
shown to visitors two days during the week. There are the 
red salon, the blue, the green, etc., in all of which the walls 
are covered with the same damask satin as the furniture. 

The style is Italian and somewhat gaudy, and the rooms 
replete with cabinets and tables in Florentine pietro duro, 
Roman mosaic and Japanese lacquer, frescoed ceilings, gild- 
ins: and marble. 

The throne is a g-ilt chair covered with red velvet, with 
the arms of the Principality embroidered on the back of it in 
gold, raised on a dais, over which a canopy of crimson velvet 
curtains depends from a gold crown. Just behind the chair, 
with the velvet as a background, a marble bust of Charles III., 
similar to that on the Place d'Armes, now stands. 

In one of the bedrooms the Duke of York died, 1767. 
The Duke had been seized with illness while voyaging from 
Marseilles to Genoa, and in this condition sought hospitality 
from the Prince of Monaco, Honore III. One of the finest 
rooms in the Palace was placed at his disposal, and every 
care and attention lavished upon him, but he died a few days 
afterwards. This room, sumptuous, rich with color and gilding, 
is painted with garlands of flowers — the seasons in the four 
16 



242 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

corners, and in the middle Juno with her peacock. The gold 
and tapestried bed, as well as the other ornaments, is Italian 
work of the eighteenth century. Standing at the extreme 
end of the gallery next the Throne Room and looking down 
the whole length of this suite of apartments, the effect of the 
polished marble floors shining like glass in the full light of the 
many windows, the gilt cornices and frescoed ceilings is ex- 
ceedingly pretty and fairy-like. The Chapel, Saint Jean, 
completed in 1656, was originally very beautiful. The resto- 
ration of the Chapel was done by the late Prince. 

The Chapel is on the ground floor, and has a gallery or 
kind of private chapel for the Royal Family, who can enter 
it from their own rooms above. 

At the begi-inningf of the French Revolution the Palace of 
Monaco was a museum of beautiful and rare objects. The 
works of the greatest artists were purchased to adorn It, and 
private fortunes were lavished with the same object. 

When, however, Monaco was incorporated with the French 
Republic, in 1797, a commissioner was appointed by France 
to report upon the contents of the palace. M. Vignaly, to 
whom this duty was entrusted, made a careful examination ; 
of hundreds of valuable paintings, he declared none worth 
retaining except sixty-four, whilst he estimated worthless 
works of art at their value in weight of silver or gold, and 
bronzes as rubbish. All he did not approve of was sold by 
auction, and in this manner one of the finest collections of 
the eighteenth century was scattered over the earth. For a 
time the palace was used as a hospital for the wounded after 
Napoleon's victories in Italy, and was a poorhouse of the de- 
partment of the Maritime Alps from 1806 to 18 14. 

There is a tradition that Hercules founded Monaco, but 



THE REIGNING FAMILY OF MONACO. 



243 



. the legend believed by the 
natives is that of " Sainte 
Devote," a young Chris- 
tian martyr, who lived in 
Corsica at the end of the 
second century, when Dio- 
cletian and Maximianwere 
joint Emperors of Rome. 
She had been a Christian 
since birth, and when called 
upon to sacrifice to the 
gods of Rome refused, in 
consequence of which she 
was put to torture and 
died in agony. As she 
drew her last breath a 
dove flew out of her 
mouth and ascended to 
heaven. The Qrovernorof 
Corsica ordered her re- 
mains to be burnt, but two 
Christian priests, to pre- 
vent this, embalmed her 
corpse, put it into a boat, 
and set sail for Africa. A 
strong wind drove the boat 
in an opposite direction, 
and when land was sighted, 
a second dove issued from 
Sainte Devote's mouth, 
and rested on the spot 




A DKCORATIVE TILE IN THE CASINO. 



244 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

vvh-re she is burled. Here in the valley of Gaumates, be- 
Cvvc;ea the rock of Monaco and Monte Carlo, a picturesque 
little church, raised to her memory, nestles in the shade. 
Crossed palms with a martyr's crown ornament the outside, 
as well as an alto-relief, in which is represented the boat with 
Sainte Devote's body driven ashore. 

Inside, in the place of honor, over the high altar, stands 
tier statue, with a dove in one hand and a branch of lilies in 
che other. The ceiling- of this quaint little building, wedged 
in the rocks, is in the Italian style, as well as the marble altar 
rails. At Christmas time two years ago a new pulpit was 
erected. It was of lio-ht carved oak, with medallions let into 
the three sides. One represents Sainte Devote before the 
Emperor, another her being led to torture, and the third her 
crowning as a martyr. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

OF 

RUSSIA. 
I. 

ALTHOUGH far from possessing the comeliness of feat- 
ure and charm of manner which distingruished the late 
Emperor Frederick of Germany, the reigning Czar of Russia 
is the only one of the crowned heads who can be said to 
resemble him in natural majesty and dignity of demeanor. 
Notwithstanding the homeliness of his strong, honest face 
and the obesity of his gigantic figure, there is something 
about him that impresses one wdth the feeling that he has 
been born to command, and that, too, in a most absolute and 
autocratic manner, instead of being merely educated up to it. 
This conviction was brought home to me most strongly on 
one occasion when I saw him walking alongside the present 
Emperor of Germany. The latter was fretting, flurrying, and 
almost prancing around his huge companion, displaying, in 
the most marked manner, his self consciousness and his pre- 
occupation as to the effect which he was producing on the 
spectators ; while the Czar, who towered head and shoulders 
above him, gave no trace of emotion or concern, but remained 
serene and even indifferent, except for a gracious arknowl- 
edgment here and there of the greeting of some old acq up n' 
ance. The whole scene reminded me of Landseer's fam 
painting of the terrier and the Newfoundland dog. 

Fond of comfort rather than of splendor, and of simpliciix 
rather than of magnificence, the Czar nevertheless makes no 
effort or even pretense to conceal his belief in the semi-di\ine 
nature, born of his authority and of his superiority above his 

(245) 



246 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

fellow-creatures. This belief is more excusable in his case 
than in that of any other monarch, owing to the fact that he 
is not only the Autocrat of all the Russias, but the spiritual 
as well as temporal chief of the Orthodox Church. His sub- 
jects, particularly those of the humbler classes, are accus- 
tomed to regard him in much the same manner as the devout 
and pious Breton peasantry look upon the Pope — that is to 
say, as some one very nearly approaching in rank to the 
Godhead itself. To what an extent this exists may be illus- 
trated by a little incident which took place a few months be- 
fore Alexander II was killed and while I was at St. Peters- 
burg. The Czar was strolling along under the shady trees 
of his private park at TcharskocSelo, when suddenly the 
aide-de-camp on duty for the day approached, followed at a 
short distance by a gray-haired moujik dressed in the costume 
worn by the peasantry of Southern Russia. In reply to the 
Emperor's inquiries, Colonel F. informed him that the old 
man craved for an audience with His Majesty for the purpose 
of thanking him in person for decreeing the emancipation of 
the serfs twenty years previously. 

On the Czar beckoning to the peasant to approach, the 
latter threw himself prostrate on the ground, and began 
kissing the Autocrat's feet, and amidst sobs to offer up prayers 
and invocations to him, just as if the Emperor had been some 
canonized saint. When at length he regained his composure, 
he explained to the Czar that at the date of his emancipation 
from servitude he had made a solemn vow to thank the 
"little father" before he died for his great act of mercy to his 
30,000,000 serf subjects. On three previous occasions he 
had walked all the way on foot from his village in Southern 
Russia — a distance of some 1,500 miles — for the purpose of 




The Czar of Russia. 



2^g. WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

accomplishing his vow. But in each instance his pilgrimage 
had been rendered fruitless by the close guard which the 
police kept over the person of the Czar while at St. Peters- 
burg. Being, however, seventy years of age, and feeling 
that death could no longer be far distant, the old peasant had 
determined to make one more effort to accomplish his vow, 
so as to be able to depart for another world with his mind 
at rest. This time, he added, he had been fortunate enough 
to find the " little father " at Tcharskoe-Selo, where it was 
easier to obtain access to him. And thus he had been able 
to fulfill his heart's desire, and would now go home to die at 
peace with himself and with the world. 

Much moved, Alexander extended his hand to be kissed, 
exclaiming, " It is I who thank thee, my old friend, and I am 
glad to have seen thee. Now return home with God's bless- 
ing and my own," and having directed Colonel F. to provide 
the old man with food, railway tickets, and money, he was 
about to pass on when he noticed that the moujik had left a 
queer-looking little bundle tied up in a multicolored hand- 
kerchief at his feet. In reply to his question the peasant, 
emboldened by the monarch's kindness, informed him that it 
contained two consecrated communion wafers which he had 
obtained at a thanksgiving- service celebrated in honor of the 
emancipation, and which he had carried with him ever since 
in the hope that the " little father " would deign to accept 
them. When Alexander died from the effects of the terrible 
injuries inflicted upon him by the bombs of the Nihilists, the 
two little consecrated wafers in question were found on his 
writing-table in a box of exquisitely carved rock crystal. 

When people regard their sovereign with such feelings of 
veneration as those displayed by the old moujik — and they 



tHE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



H9 



are by no means confined to the peasantry — it is not sur- 
prising that a Czar should consider himself as something 
more than human, and an offense against his person as par- 
taking more of a sacrilege than of a crime. He is convinced 
that there is no authority above him save that of God alone, 
and that he is responsible to no one but the Almighty for his 
acts. He is encouraged in this feeling by all who surround 
him, except, perhaps, by his English servants. For, curiously 
enough, the majority of his domestics are from Great Britain, 
and his favorite residence at the Annitchkoff Palace is mod- 
eled and furnished in exact imitation of the London home of 
his genial brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales. Nor does the 
existence of Nihilism diminish in any way his assurance as to 
the sacred character of his authority. Aware of the semi- 
Asiatic nature of the Russians, and their Oriental taste for 
exao-creration, he realizes that the intense devotion and affec- 
tionate submission of the majority of his subjects, on the one 
hand, must in the order of things be counterbalanced on the 
other by the conspiracies of malcontent and disaffected per- 
sons. Plotting forms part and parcel of the nature of almost 
every Oriental, and the Czar Is accustomed to deal with this 
Oriental failing of his subjects in a manner that is far more 
Asiatic than European. 

The Czar's massive and striking features are often dark- 
ened by a gloomy and unhappy expression, a fact which is 
not surprising when one thinks of the dangers and risks con- 
tinually hovering over his head like a threatening storm- 
cloud, and also of the sorrows which have darkened his 
younger days. His marriage to the charming sister of the 
Princess of Wales followed one tragedy, and his accession to 
the throne another. Of the latter it is unnecessary for me 



256 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

to speak here, for the circumstances of the terrible assassina- 
tion of Alexander II, the Liberator of the Serfs, just 14 years 
ago, are still so fresh in people's minds that it would be su- 
perfluous to reiterate the familiar details of the catastrophe. 
Of the sad events which led to the present Emperor's mar- 
riage, however, far less is known. The Czarina was the be- 
trothed — almost the widow — of Alexander the Third's elder 
brother, Nicolas. The latter died on the eve of the date 
appointed for his marriage, from the effects of a blow struck 
during the course of some rough horse-play by the present 
Emperor. Husband and wife met for the first time at the 
death-bed of the Czarowitz Nicolas, who was the brother of 
one and the JianceQ of the other. A little more than a year 
afterward their wedding took place at St. Petersburg, 

It is impossible to conceive a greater contrast than that 
which existed between the two brothers, who were exceed- 
ingly fond of each other. Nicolas, the elder, bore a striking 
resemblance to his beautiful mother. He possessed the same 
delicate, clear-cut, and refined features, and the same slender, 
elegant, and graceful figure. His physical graces were on a 
par with those of his mind. Witty, clever, and sparkling, his 
kindly epigrams and his charming verses remain to this day 
as an illustration of his brilliancy of intellect. He was an 
ideal lover, and under the circumstances it is not astonishing 
that his betrothed, Princess Dacrmar, of Denmark, the 
younger sister of the Princess of Wales, should have been 
passionately devoted to him. 

While the education of Nicolas was almost entirely foreign, 
that of Alexander was left to Russians, his pr-inclpal tutor hav- 
ing been the fanatical and bigoted Pobiedonostzeff, who to- 
day, as Procurator-General of the Holy Synod, is the moving 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. ^5t 

spirit of all the Jewish and Christian persecutions. Uncomely 
and uncouth as a lad, surly tempered and dull witted, Alexan- 
der experienced the treatment of the ugly duckling, and was 
perpetually being slighted not only by his own family, but 
even by the Court dignitaries and officials, in favor of his 
elder and far more popular brother ; and I can well remember 
the disagreeable surprise and widespread apprehension which 
was created in Russia and abroad when it was realized that 
he had become heir-apparent to the crown of all the Rus- 
sias. 

Betrothal in the Greek Church is not a mere engagement in 
the manner that Angrlo-Saxons understand it, but a solemn cer- 
emony performed in chu rch, and almost as binding and import- 
ant as that of marriage itself. It was not, therefore, as mere 
fiancee, but almost as wife, that Princess Dagmar was sum- 
moned in all haste from Copenhagen to Nice, late in the 
spring of 1865, to attend the deathbed of her Imperial lover. 
Her grief was intense, and she only parted from the medal- 
lion containing her dead lover's hair and portrait, which she 
wore around her throat when she donned her wedding-dress 
on the day of her marriage to Alexander III. The latter, too, 
appeared during the whole period preceding the wedding to 
see his brother's spectre arising perpetually between himself 
and the lady whom the exigencies of national politics — but 
not love — required that he should lead to the altar as his 
bride. For, during the entire courtship — if courtship, indeed, 
it can be called — he avoided ever being en tete-a-tete with the 
Princess, or even meeting her except on official occasions. It 
was to his younger brothers, Vladimir and Alexis, that he left 
the duty of representing him at all times by the side of his 
future wife. It is surprising that a marriage thus contracted 



252 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



under the very shadow of death should have resulted in such 
unalloyed domestic bliss. There is no Royal or Imperial 
couple in Europe whose relations toward one another have 
been so unclouded since their marriag^e. The Czarina has 
learned to love and admire the sound and sterling honesty of 
her huge, burly, and rather narrow-minded husband, and is 
wholly wrapped up in him — never leaving him, and acting as 
his guardian angel. That her affection and devotion are 
returned with interest by the Czar, is conclusively shown by 
the fact that he alone of all the Princes, either past or present, 
of his house has maintained a strict and honorable observance 
of his marriage vows. 

Alexander III has a reputation throughout the world for 
extreme intolerance and even bigotry on the subject of the 
Orthodox faith, and is generally credited with regarding the 
members of all other Christian creeds as heretics of the most 
damnable kind, and as deserving the worst forms of perse- 
cution. It will, therefore, be a matter of extreme surprise to 
those who have derived the above impression concerning the 
Czar from the anti-Russian papers in Germany and Austria 
to learn for the first time that the most intimate, beloved, and 
trusted friend of the Muscovite Autocrat is a Roman Catholic 
ecclesiastic — not a Prelate or other high dignitary of the 
Church, but a mere village priest, the rector of the little ham- 
let of Podborz, situated within a few hours of the western 
frontier, where the Czar often repairs in order to visit the 
good Abbe. Podborz is situated at the extremity of Russian 
Poland, near the great industrial town of Tomaszof, and the 
neighboring Castle of Spala is the private property of the 
Czar and one of his finest shooting estates. Ancient forests 
extend for hundreds of miles, and wild boars abound, as do 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 253 

also hares and deer. The shooting is a great attraction for 
the Czar, who is also influenced in his preference by the 
neighborhood of the Principality of Lovitsch, the capital of 
which has often served as a rendezvous for the Emperors of 
Germany, Austria, and Russia. This immense property be- 
lonors also to the Czar, who is thus one of the largest land- 
owners in Poland. The Marquis Wielopolski. son of the 
celebrated statesman who represented Poland before the in- 
surrection of 1863, is entrusted with the management of this 
property, and bears the title of Administrator of the Princi- 
pality of Lovitsch. The Marquis, who is married to Princess 
Montenuovo, a near relative of the Emperor of Austria, is a 
persona gratissima 2lX. the Russian Court. He holds himself 
entirely aloof from politics and thus gains the favor of the 
Czar at the cost of unpopularity in Poland. The Marquis is 
the only representative of the Polish aristocracy who accom- 
panies the Czar ; the others remain at a distance and, indeed, 
most of them leave the country as soon as the Czar's arrival 
is officially announced. When the Czar is at Spala he changes 
not only his habits but his very character. Usually taciturn 
and severe, he becomes gay, light-hearted, and affable. The 
Ministers have orders not to disturb the sovereign in his 
retreat, except for matters of the gravest importance. The 
time is passed in shooting, country balls, long walks, and 
other pastimes. The Czarina amuses herself by visiting the 
dwellings of the peasants in the guise of a good fairy, and 
never fails to leave behind her a substantial souvenir. Great 
measures of precaution for the safety of their Majesties are 
observed there also. Not only are a number of detectives 
from Warsaw stationed in the neighborhood of Spala, but the 
Chief of Police of the Empire sends 1 50 of his best men to 



254 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



guard the sovereigns during their stay there. Disguised as 
private individuals, they are scattered about the district, 
o-uardlno- the Czar from real dangers and often, I regret to 
say, inventing imaginary ones. It is true that the Poles 
heardly hate the Czar and in their heart of hearts reciprocate 
the sentiment of dislike which His Majesty openly declares 
he feels for them, but they would be more likely to denounce 
plots against his person than to engage in them, for It is 
well known that the least misfortune to the Czar would 
render the state of the country more insupportable than ever. 
Besides the police spies there are a number of gendarmes 
who follow the detecdves to keep a watch over them and to 
be watched by them in their turn. When the Czar goes to 
Sklernievlce and thence to Warsaw, the whole of the railway 
line — 150 kilometres In length — Is guarded by troops, who 
line both sides of the way and keep a keen watch over the 
surrounding country and a sharp lookout for mines. The 
Czar takes care never to ride on the front part of the train 
or to take the train which has been announced. At Warsaw 
the Czar passes through the streets at a gallop, surrounded 
by police spies, who range up and down the streets and ar- 
rest any suspected person. Many hours daily does the Czar 
spend in the company of his old friend, the Abbe. It would 
be preposterous to pretend to give any account of the sub- 
jects discussed by this strangely assorted pair during their 
long walks and hunting expeditions. But judging from the 
results, politics are not altogether eschewed. For it Is to the 
sole influence of this humble village priest that must be at- 
tributed the revival of the hitherto unsuccessful efforts of the 
St. Petersburg Foreign Office to establish a modus vivendi 
between the Russian Government and the Vatican. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 355 

To the worthy Abbe is also due the extraordinary good 
will and marked favor displayed by the Czar to the Polish 
peasantry. As a striking instance thereof may be cited the 
Peasants' Land Bank whicli he caused to be established in 
Poland a short time after his accession to the throne and for 
the further extension of which an Imperial ukase was signed 
a short time as^o. The bank is oro^anized on the Socialist 
lines described by Eugene Sue in Les Mysteres de Paris. En- 
dowed with a capital of several million roubles out of the Pub- 
lic Utility Fund, it issues loans to the peasantry on the secur- 
ity of their land up to 90 per cent, of its valuation. The peas- 
ant, it is true, has to obtain a certificate from the local com- 
mittee for tenants' affairs stating that he is in need of the loan, 
but on the other hand the money is granted to him without 
the payment of any interest. A prolongation of the term for 
which the loan is made can be obtained by the borrower on 
the payment of a merely nominal fine, and on the presenta- 
tion of a certificate from the tenants' committee recommend- 
ing that the re-payment be postponed. It is hardly necessary 
to add that until the debt is liquidated the land can neither be 
sold nor seized except with the consent of the bank. The 
scheme has worked wonderfully well, and has done more than 
anything else to put a stop to the wholesale absorption of the 
land by the Jewish usurers, to whose rapacity and extortion 
so much of the distress in Russia is due. It was for the sake 
of preventing these money lenders from taking any improper 
advantage of any temporary embarrassment of the peasant 
that the Czar recently issued an ukase decreeing that no Jew 
resident in the Polish provinces should be allowed to possess 
more than fifteen acres of land, the quantity in fact strictly 
necessary for his subsistence. It is further ordained that they 



256 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



must cultivate this land themselves and they are prohibited, 
under pain of confiscation and expulsion from the country, 
from hiring Christian laborers to do their work. A new corps 
of officials has been created in Poland for the special purpose 
of maintaining a stringent surveillance on the Jews, and re- 
wards are promised by the Government for all information 
concerning the infraction of any of the above-mentioned 
decrees. 

This exceptional favor on the part of the Czar to Father 
Ziidmowski — for that is the name of this remarkable Abbe — 
is a matter of much comment at St. Petersburg and Mos- 
cow. Father Zudmowski is about 65 years old, and his inti- 
macy with the Emperor dates back to the year 1872, when 
he became acquainted with Alexander III on the occasion of 
the latter's visit to Field Marshal Prince Banatinski at Skler- 
nievice. In presenting the priest to his Imperial guest, the 
old Prince laid special stress on his wonderful erudition and 
breadth of mind, and also on his great reputation in the dis- 
trict as a first-class sportsman. The Czarewltch — for at that 
time the late Emperor was still alive — soon became exceed- 
ingly fond of the Abbe, and finding it impossible to accept 
preferment, or to persuade him to leave his village church at 
Podborz for St. Petersburg, he actually purchased the estate 
of Spala, and constructed a chateau there, so as to occasion- 
ally enjoy the society of Father Zudmowski. 

These numerous instances of Imperial good-will to the 
Roman Catholic peasantry and Church in Poland become all 
the more remarkable when the bitter persecution is taken 
into consideration to which the Lutheran and Protestant 
population in the Baltic provinces are subjected by the St. 
Petersburg Government. Indeed, at the very moment when 



tilE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



257 



the German papers were filled with true accounts of the exile 
and banishment of numbers of Lutheran pastors and pro- 
fessors, the Czar was considering the advisability of permit- 
ting the return to Poland of the numerous Catholic bishops 
and priests who were transported to Siberia 28 years ago for 
their complicity in the last Polish revolution. All this is the 
work of the venerable Abbe Zudmovvski, and while on the 
one hand his influence on the Czar has proved of incalculable 
benefit to his fellow-countrymen, on the otiher it has had the 
effect of converting a formerly revolutionary and disaffected 
population into patriotic and loyal subjects of " the little 
father." 

The favorite residence both of the Czar and Czarina is the 
Palace of Gatchina, a beautiful place situated about forty 
miles from St. Petersburg, with which it is directly connected 
by three railways. It is thus quite a strategical position, and 
possibly this circumstance has influenced its selection as an 
imperial retreat. The residence is surrounded by a beautiful 
park, with picturesquely undulating grounds, the graceful 
slopes being adorned with fine old timber. The palace itself 
is an enormous buildino-, or block of buildinq^s. One huo-e 
square stone edifice occupies the centre, and from it branch 
out on either side circular wings which serve as galleries to 
connect the main edifice and the two smaller but substantial 
annexes that face in the same direction as the central portion 
and form projections at the ends of the general semi-circular 
front. In the central block are the state and larger reception 
rooms. The wing on the left is occupied by the Imperial 
fam.ily. In that on the right are the apartments for members 
of the household. Visitors arriving are conducted to the cen- 
tral entrance, and, except under the most safe conduct, and 
17 



258 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

after searching examination, no one is allowed to approach 
that portion of the palace inhabited by the Czar. 1 bus the 
general arrangement of the buildings, besides offering the 
advantages of accommodation to be found in a large man- 
sion, affords special security for the personal safety of the 
Emperor, whose apartments are completely isolated and un- 
approachable except by narrow passages that are strictly 
guarded. The galleries at Gatchina have long been famed 
as containinof mao^nificent artistic collections. One which 
leads to the Emperor's private rooms is called the Japanese 
gallery, and here are assembled a number of curiosities of 
the highest value, which have from time to time been pre- 
sented to the great white Gzar by the rulers of China and 
Japan. Japanese experts have long since stated that there 
was nothing in the East to compare with the Russian col- 
lection, and that it would be impossible to replace many 
of the ancient and extremely valuable artistic objects that 
adorn the Imperial gallery. In addition to the Asiatic 
curiosities, the lover of elegant antiquities finds at Gatchina 
magnificent specimens of the most highly worked Louis 
XVI furniture. These were presented to Catherine the 
Great by the most unfortunate of French monarchs, and 
have always been highly prized by the Russian Imperial 
family. The ordinary sitting-room of the Czar in which 
he transacts his business is situated on the first floor of the 
block inhabited by the Imperial family. It is a comfort- 
ably but simply furnished apartment. The style somewhat 
betokens the character of Its occupant. A number of heavy 
German-fashioned and capacious arm-chairs give it an air 
of ponderous solemnity. Little elegance or ornament is so 
noticeable, but a large writing-table and other unmistakable 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



259 



signs denote that many of the Emperor's hours are here 
passed in close apphcation to the endless business that de- 
volves on the autocratic head of a system of bureaucratic 
centralization. On the writing-desk is a wonderful picture of 
the Czarina surrounded by her children. It is framed in 
antique Hungarian enamel and surmounted by the Imperial 
Crown in diamonds. 

Alexander usually rises at seven, and hurriedly dresses him- 
self. After he is dressed, he enters his reception room, and re- 
ceives the report of the commandant of Gatchina and the chief 
of his body guards. Then he takes a long walk in the palace 
garden. When in a good humor he enters the palace yard, 
throws off his overcoat, seizes a huge axe, and chops wood. 
Thick logs of oak and pine are one after another eagerly and 
dexterously cut and split by the Autocrat of all the Russias. 
The real labors of his day commence at nine in the morning. 
Till one o'clock he is occupied in his study receiving the Minis- 
ters, who present their weekly or daily reports, and consulting 
with them over affairs of state. The reception of Ministers is 
followed by the presentation of officials who have recently re- 
ceived important appointments, or with whom the Emperor, for 
some particular reason, desires to converse. Very characteristic 
it is that while high officials have often a difficulty in obtaining 
an interview, His Majesty is always accessible to provincial 
deputations, which are sometimes composed of wild Khirgiz, 
sometimes of swarthy Kalmuks or skin-clad Samoyedes, and 
sometimes of illiterate Russian peasants, who desire to present 
a holy picture to their great father, and to express their loy- 
alty and devotion to his person. The Emperor receives all 
with a stern dignity which, though accompanied by great 
kindness of manner, always leaves the conviction that Alexan- 



26o WtTHiN ROVaL tALACfiS. 

der III feels himself an autocrat, and is determined to 
yield none of his prerogatives, but to impress on all who 
approach him that they are in the presence of an absolute 
though indulgent master. This species of self-assertion was 
a trait in the character of the Emperor in his very earliest 
days. He is devoted to music, and, when a boy, it was sug- 
gested that he might derive pleasure from taking a part in 
the musical performances of the palace orchestra. The then 
heir-apparent was delighted at the idea, and it remained to be 
settled on what instrument he should learn to perform. Char- 
acteristically, this Imperial prince selected the trombone as 
being the instrument with which he could produce the great- 
est effect, and lover of music though he was, his performance 
appeared chiefly to consist in a well-sustained and fairly suc- 
cessful effort to drown the remainder of the orchestra. Of 
late years, the Czar, big and burly giant that he is, finds 
amusement in playing on a large silver cornet, the clear ring- 
ing blasts which are often heard echoing through the halls 
and salons of the palace at Gatchina. 

Although stern to the majority of those who surround 
him, Alexander III has always been a sympathizing and 
affectionate husband and father. At one o'clock daily he 
lunches with his wife and children, and to this meal none but 
the closest intimates of his family are ever admitted. After 
luncheon, if there are no further deputations to receive or 
important business to attend to, the Czar goes out walking 
or driving in company with the Empress and his sons. 
At 7.30, which in Russia is considered a late hour, the Em- 
peror and Empress dine, but at this meal the children, who 
have been already consigned for the night to the care of their 
superintendents, do not appear. The Empress makes a point 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 26l 

of being present when her younger children are put to bed. 
She often undresses them with her own hands, hears them 
say their prayers, and does not leave their apartment until 
the little silky heads have been laid to rest on their dajnty 
lace-edged pillows. When the children were yet babies the 
Czarina, wrapped in a plain flannel dressing-gown, made her 
appearance in the nurseries a little before the moment when 
the little ones took their baths, and would take a particular 
delight in performing this operation herself, laughing and 
playing with the little ones whilst she sponged and douched 
them. When at Gatchina, there is often in the evening a 
little music, of which the Empress is as fond as the Emperor, 
and Her Majesty is a good pianist. The Czar retires to 
bed early, and by eleven o'clock all is silence in the Imperial 
apartments. The lookout from the windows over the park 
is charmingly picturesque in the Empress' study, but the at- 
tention is somewhat distracted from the beauties of the scene 
by the continual pacing, immediately in front of the windows, 
of the many sentries who closely surround the house. The 
Empress is an admirable manager, both of her time and 
everything that pertains to the household duties. Her great 
intelligence and sweetness of manner have given her an ex- 
traordinary influence over persons who come in contact with 
her. The Anitchkoff palace which she occupied at Czarevna, 
was a model of household management, and to her initiative 
are due the commencement of sweeping reforms in the ad- 
ministration of the other overgrown palaces. She is patroness, 
and takes, as far as possible, an active interest in the manage- 
ment of half the charitable institutions in Russia, and particu- 
larly those connected with the protection of women and chil- 
dren. Every morning, while the Emperor is busy up-stairs 



262 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES^ 

with his Ministers, the Empress receives the reports of those 
whom she intrusts with the supervision of the various socie- 
ties in which she is interested. It is rare also that any depu- 
tation or individual of importance is presented to the Emperor 
without being subsequently introduced to the Empress. But 
it is not affairs pertaining to her Imperial position alone that 
occupy the attention of this excellent wife and mother. The 
Empress' solicitude for the safety of her husband is well 
known, and it has been observed that she is never at ease 
when he is called away from home. For in spite of the pre- 
cautions of all kinds which are continually invented in the hope 
of thwarting the efforts of the Nihilists, the Emperor is in con- 
tinual danofer of assassination. In each house in Moscow and 
St. Petersburg one person, usually the Dvornik, or janitor, is 
designated by the police, and is held responsible for the doings 
of the inhabitants of said house. These precautions constitute 
a strict guard over the whole population of the city. The 
persons thus singled out by the police to do such guard duty 
are so many hostages in the hands of the Muscovite authori- 
ties, their own lives and liberties depending on the good be- 
havior of every inhabitant in each house. The critical posi- 
tion of the country and the personal danger of the Emperor 
are the dread skeletons in the cupboard of this otherwise 
happy Imperial family, and grave are the anxieties that often 
cloud a face that no one can look upon without especial feel- 
ings of sympathy. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

OF 

RUSSIA. 
II. 

NOTWITHSTANDING all that has been said to the 
contrary, the Czarina, sister of the Princess of Wales, 
has no political influence whatever on her husband. Like her 
English sister she takes exceedingly little interest in the affairs 
of State. She is devoted to her husband, to her children, to 
dress, to dancing, and to all those pursuits which so thoroughly 
belong to the province of women. Although exceedingly 
popular and very kind and gracious to her friends, she can be 
very proud and unbending. Far more so, indeed, than either 
of her two sisters. Like the Empress of Austria, the Czarina 
is a devoted vassal of " King Nicotine." She smokes almost 
continually in an indolent and semi-oriental fashion. Stretched 
on the silken cushions of a broad, low divan at Gatchina, she 
follows dreamily with her beautiful dark eyes the rings of blue 
smoke that her crimson lips part to send upward into the per- 
fumed air of her boudoir, a boudoir which she calls her " den," 
and which is copied from one of the loveliest rooms of the 
Alhambra, with palms raising their banners against the gor- 
geous colors and diapered gold of the walls. Heavy-hearted 
and anxious as the charming sovereign of all the Russias often 
is, her mind filled with gruesome fears of a cruel death for those 
she loves best, she finds in the cigarette her greatest solace, 
and she spends many an hour, her small patrician head 
crowned by its wealth of brown braids, reclining among the 

(263) 



264 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



gold-embroidered pillows of her couch, sending little clouds of 
smoke upward to the ceiling, and sipping exquisite caravan 
tea at ^40 a pound ! The latter is brought to her in a service 
made by the goldsmiths of the Deccan, who provide work, 
beside which all the best that Europe can furnish appears 
clumsy, vulgar, and inartistic. Her Majesty is still extremely 




PALACE AT KREMLIN. 



lovely and takes such excellent care of herself that she looks 
more like the sister than the mother of her tall sons and 
daughters. 

She is a great advocate of cold water, and adjoining to her 
dressing-room there is a large swimming bath entirely built of 
Carrara marble where she dives and floats in cold water 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 265 

every day for half an hour. To make the illusion as complete 
as possible, she has had this artificial pond surrounded with 
hedges of exotics, clusters of palms, and banks of moss, where 
cyclamens, violets, and primroses blossom in profusion. 
Surely this is a delightful way of taking one's morning bath. 
The room being well heated, the cold water feels delightfully 
refreshing after a night spent in dancing in the oppressive 
atmosphere of a crowded ball-room, or after one of these long 
Court receptions so tiring to the august hostess. 

The Czarina's private sitting-room, which is her favorite 
apartment at Gatchina, is a marvel of tasteful luxury. It is 
lighted by three bay-windows, garlanded by Spanish jessa- 
mines, ofrowinof in orreat Dresden boxes. The walls and ceil- 
ings are covered with a thick, soft, silken stuff of a very pale 
pink, interwoven with threads of silver. A chandelier of pink 
Venetian glass, representing clusters of convolvulus, hangs 
from the ceiling. The sofas, arm-chairs, rockers, and divans are 
upholstered in pale pink velvet embroidered with silver. The 
floor is carpeted with a white Aubusson rug, on which are 
worked showers of rose petals. Nowhere is any woodwork 
to be seen ; even the frames of the long, narrow mirrors are 
swathed in pink velvet. In each corner are pink marble 
statues by Coustov, and in the centre of the room a pink 
camelia in full bloom stands on a round console draped with 
cloth of silver of the fifteenth century, matching the portieres 
and window curtains. 

The mantel-piece Is also of pink marble, crowned by a 
bank of Neapolitan violets In a long, \o\^ jardiniere oi repousse 
silver-work. 

Very fond of jewels, Marie Dagmar, Empress of Russia, 
possesses one of the finest collections of gems in the world. 



266 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Ropes of pearls, streams of emeralds green as the deep 
lakes, sapphires gleaming like the Oriental sky, diamonds 
twinkling like fallen planets on their velvet beds, rare Byzan- 
tine jewels, and clusters of rubies worthy of Haroun Alrashid. 
One of the Czar's latest presents to his beloved wife is a 
necklace of great pearls of absolutely perfect form and color. 
Nine rows of these softly-gleaming gems are loosely held to- 
gether by clasps of diamonds in the shape oi fleur-de-lis, and 
a right Imperial jewel this is. A favorite parure of the Em- 
press is a long javelin, composed entirely of brilliants, to hold 
up the skirt draperies, and a necklace and tiara of emerald 
shamrocks sprinkled widi diamond dewdrops. But one of 
the quaintest and most handsome of all these priceless toys is 
a set of 15 butterflies to place as epaulets on a low bodice, 
and to scatter over the skirt. They are made of brilliants, 
sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and topazes, their antennae are 
covered with diamond dust, while, as a finishing touch to this 
lovely and original ornament, is a huge moth of pearls and 
brilliants, with widely outstretched wings, to be placed in the 
hair. There are also, among the many treasures lying in her 
jewel-safe, a tiara of rubies and diamonds, representing a 
garland of poppies and wheat ears ; a flat band of diamonds 
and emeralds, to be worn round the neck ; a set of 20 pink 
diamond stars, and a tiara stomacher and collar, composed of 
hedge roses made of great rubles of the true pigeon-blood 
color, set in a double garland of diamond maidenhair ferns 
and tremblino- trasses which are renowned throuo-hout the 
World, etc., etc., etc. 

The Muscovite regalia, or Crown jewels, which are kept at 
the Winter Palace in Petersburg, includes amono; its marvels 
the two Imperial crowns, the two collars of the order of 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 26/ 

St. Andrew, the globe and sceptre, whose money value ex- 
ceeds ;^2,ooo,ooo, but whose artistic value is very small. The 
Imperial crown is that of Catherine, with its fifty large stones 
and 5,000 brilliants, which have been used at five corona- 
tions. The Orloff diamond surmounts the sceptre, and the 
sphere holds the finest sapphire in the world. The throne of 
Alexander is one of carved ivory, and that of the Czarina ot 
silver, incrusted with diamonds, but lower in form than that 
of the Emperor. 

The Czarina possesses exquisite taste and displays the 
same on every occasion. The last time when I had the 
pleasure of lunching with Her Majesty it was at Gatchina 
durinof the becrinninof of autumn. The meal was served en- 
tirely in Russian style. The plates and dishes were of tolsk 
pottery ; this ware is ornamented in the most effective man- 
ner possible with designs and flowers executed in colored 
relief resembling, in a cruder way, the Bernard de Palissy 
genre. The wines were served in superb ewers of old 
Niello or Tula silver, enriched with raised ornaments in bold 
relief, and the spoons, knives, forks, salt-cellars, and other 
articles of plate were also of dark Tula silver. The tum- 
blers and wine-glasses were of that peculiar opaque crystal 
which is known as Russian " Schmeltz," a mixture of deli- 
cately shot-sea-green and rich purple. In the middle of the 
table was a \o^n jardiniere of Labrador (a Russian stone of soft 
gray tint with a blue silvery shimmer irradiating therefrom) ; 
in this were planted Russian violets, leaves, blossoms, buds, 
and all intermingled with a queer-looking feathery species of 
dwarf-reed, which grows on the steppes of the Ukraine. On 
a side table were disposed, Russian fashion, on a thickly em- 
broidered red and blue cloth, piles of Caviar sandwiches, 



268 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

pickled sterlet, barch (a clear soup made of beet- root, hops, 
and sour cream, a Russian national dish), served in Tula cups, 
big carved wooden bowls heaped with walnuts and rosy- 
cheeked apples, jugs of kwas (native beer), and flagons of 
Kiimmel. 

When we entered the dining-room we stepped toward this 
table and made our choice from these various appetizers, 
which to Muscovites appear as necessary an ante-prandial 
tid-bit as oysters are to Europeans and Americans. I must 
not forget to add that the table and napkins on the luncheon- 
table were of a tissue which is manufactured from the fibres 
of a peculiar filandrous stone from the Siberian mines. This 
stone is dove-colored, very brilliant and satin-like in texture, 
and by some unknown process it is shredded and spun into 
a fabric which, although soft to the touch and as perfectly 
supple and pliable as silk, is of so resisting a nature that it 
never wears out. When soiled it is thrown into the fire, and 
when red-hot plunged into cold water, from whence it 
emerges absolutely clean and ready for use again. This is 
only one of the small marvels of a country which is full of 
mysteries worthy of a land of legend. 

The Czarina, who is the Muscovite leader of fashion par 
excellence, and who always dresses charmingly, wore that 
morning a white velvet gown made perfectly plain, with a 
short round skirt, and trimmed with deep bands of blue- fox 
fur. At her throat nestled three or four half-open buds of 
yellow roses, and in her hair was a long silver arrow. Never 
did I see Her Majesty look so well as in this simple toilette, 
which suited her style of beauty to perfection. 

It was on that day that I met for the first and last time a 
very remarkable personality — Princess X , who is as well 



The Imperial family of Russia. 269 

known at Paris as in St. Petersburg, where she occupied the 
honorary office of lady-in-waiting to the Czarina. 

Two years later she lost her only child, a lovely boy of 
four years old, while spending the autumn at one of the most 
romantic seaside resorts on the coast of Brittany, under pe- 
culiarly awful circumstances. 

The Princess is a superb swimmer, and daily she remained 
for hours in the water, taking especial delight in so doing 
when the sea was rouo-h and the bigf oreen waves tumbled 
her about, causinof her to look, with her long: sfolden hair un- 
bound on her shoulders, like a mermaid or a " nixe " from 
some old German legend. Often would she take her little 
boy with her, and although he was very much frightened, 
poor little fellow, a look from her sufficed to make him plunge 
into the restless water with a resolute expression on his fair 
face, although tears of terror glistened in his big blue eyes. 
One morning toward the end of October the young Princess, 
accompanied by two or three gentlemen and her little boy, 
appeared on the beach to take her bath. The tide was run- 
ning high, and the waves rose black and frothy upon the 
sands. "Surely you're not going to take the baby with you 
to-day?" growled an old fisherman, who, with his hands in his 
pockets and a telescope stuck under his arm, was sitting on 
an overturned boat watching the stormy sky. " Yes, indeed, 
I am," laughed the great lady. " He is a man and must learn to 
be plucky." Heedless of the warnings poured forth by the 
indignant Breton, she lifted the child in her arms and walked 
into the surf. A small crowd of women, wearing the pictur- 
esque white cap of the Brittany peasant, had gathered at the 
foot of the cliffs to enjoy the sight presented by the elegant 
foreigners in their bright-colored bathing suits, disporting 



270 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

themselves In the water. They thought that the Princess 
would plunge the baby once or twice and then take him out ; 
but a cry of dismay arose as they saw her place him on her 
shoulders and swim boldly off, rising and falling with the big 
undulating rollers, topped with white foam, which seemed 
about to engulf her, now and again, between their greenish 
walls. The boy, livid with fear, was clinging desperately to 
her neck, when suddenly the onlookers noticed that the tide, 
which was beginning to recede, was drawing her rapidly away 
from the shore. The Princess also felt the imminent danger 
and screamed aloud. Some men ran toward the overturned 
boat, dragged it rapidly down the beach, and with difficulty 
succeeded in launching; it on the now tumultuous sea, calling 
out to the Princess, as they did so, to " hold on, that they were 
coming." She appeared, however, to have lost all presence 
of mind and tried to shake off the boy, who was almost throt- 
tling her in his frantic efforts to maintain his hold. A fearful 
expression of rage and fury swept over her beautiful features, 
and, grasping her precious burden by the arm, she wrenched 
him, and hurled him away from her. Then, without one look 
behind her, she swam toward the boat, which had meanwhile 
come quite close to her. One minute more, and she might 
have saved the poor htde one, who had sunk like a stone and 
whose disfigured little corpse was washed ashore two days 
later. This surely is a drama which is unequaled in the 
annals of motherhood, for even wild beasts sacrifice them- 
selves for their young ones. Not so, however, with mon- 

daines like Princess X . It is needless to add that Princess 

X is no longer invited to Gatchina, and has been com- 
pletely dropped by the Empress. 

Talking of Gatchina involuntarily reminds me of another 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



271 



awful tragedy which happened there not long ago and which 
left a deep impression of sadness at this beautiful place. 
Prominent among the inhabitants of that picturesque little 
town, with its beautiful villas and shadv tree-lined ave- 
nues, was at the time Privy Councillor von Dietz, the super- 
intendent of the Imperial stables, who is one of the most 
trusted and respected members of the Czar's household. 

When the Court moved to the metropolis Mr. von Dietz 
was forced to accompany their Majesties, but used to leave 
his wife and three children at Gatchina. One autumn after- 
noon Mme. von Dietz proceeded, with her little six-year-old 
boy, Seresha, to call upon her neighbor, the Princess Gal- 
itzyne, whose husband fills the office of Grand Huntsman of 
the Empire. During the visit the discussion turned upon 
some article that had appeared in che Grashdanin, and finally 
Mme. Dietz determined to send home little Seresha to fetch 
the paper from her villa, which was only a few hundred yards 
distant from that of the Princess. The path lay through an 
immense courtyard adjoining the Imperial kennels, into which 
the hounds were turned at certain hours of the day for exer- 
cise. The two ladies waited in vain for the newspaper, and 
as the child did not return, the Princess summoned a page 
boy, some fourteen years of age, and sent him to fetch it and 
at the same time to find out what had become of the little 
Seresha. 

In about ten minutes the page reappeared, saying that the 
dogs were out for exercise and that they would not let him 
pass. He added that he had attempted in vain to beat them 
back with his whip, but that they had become so ugly in their 
demonstrations toward him that he did not dare to proceed 
any further. "But what has come over the dogs?" exclaimed 



272 



WITHIN ROYAL fALACfiS. 



both the ladies at once ; " they have never acted like that 
before." " They seem to be dragging a kind of sack or bun- 
dle about/' replied the page ; " 1 could not see vi^hat it was 
exacdy, because of the twilight, but they seemed to be in a 
state of perfect frenzy over it." 

Greatly alarmed, the ladies immediately summoned assist- 
ance and proceeded to the courtyard. It was only with the 
greatest difficulty that the dogs could be whipped off the 
bundle which they were worrying and which, to the horror of 
all present, turned out to be the body, or rather what was left 
thereof, of poor little golden-haired and blue-eyed Seresha. 
Mme. Dietz swooned away on the spot, and lay for weeks 
prostrated with an attack of brain fever. 

By order of the Czar the entire pack of hounds was de- 
stroyed on the following day. None of the dogs in ques- 
tion was more than eiofht or nine months old and had been 
regarded as mere puppies, and therefore not dangerous. 
They were of a peculiar breed, raised only for wolf hunts, 
being the issue of a cross between the tame she-wolves 
and gigantic wolf-hounds. 

Little Seresha had been accustomed to play with the pup- 
pies and had failed to realize that they had already attained 
an immense size, had evidently attempted to cross the court- 
yard without dreaming of any danger. The dogs in their 
uncouth demonstrations of pleasure at seeing their former 
playmate, had probably scared the little chap, causing him to 
take fright. The whole pack had thereupon followed in pur- 
suit and thrown him to the ground, and then, the latent in- 
stincts and ferocity of the wolfish mother supervening, had 
torn the child to pieces. Little Seresha, who was a godson 
of the Empress, was known and beloved by everybody, both 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 273 

at the palace and in the town of Gatschina, The Czar and 
Czarina, as also all other members of the Imperial family, 
were deeply affected by his terrible death and did everything 
in their power to console the grief-stricken father. The lat- 
ter was promoted to a higher rank and salary, and was pre- 
sented by Alexander III with a beautiful villa in the Imperial 
Park, at Peterhof, in lieu of his house at Gatschina, which 
could not fail to evoke painful memories of the tragedy. 

The Czarowitch is a young man of slight build, resembling 
his pretty and delicate mother, rather than his herculean 
father, who is the strongest man I have ever seen, being able 
to bend a silver dollar piece double between his forefinger 
and thumb. The young man is of somewhat mystical turn of 
mind, like his mother. He believes firmly in all the old le- 
gends so current in Russian history, among which stands 
prominent the superstition concerning the beautiful lady 
dressed all in white and carrying a great wreath of white 
roses, who is said to be the death messenger of the Romanoff 
family. A curious story is told of how, on the morning of his 
assassination by the Nihilists, Alexander II, the father of the 
present Czar, found on his bed a branch of white roses veiled 
with crape, which it was asserted, had been left there by the 
apparition. 

The Czarowitch is of an active and lively disposition in spite 
of his frequent fits of open-eyed dreaming, and for his years 
displays much earnestness and good sense. Russian is always 
the language employed by the Imperial family when they are 
together. But all the Czar's children speak a number of for^ 
eign idioms, for which the young heir-apparent has considerable 
talent. He is also a superb shot and excellent rider. His 
military titles and dignities include that of Ataman of all the 
18 



274 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Cossack Regiments, of Captain of the Regiment of Preobra- 
jensky, Colonel of the Volynian Guard, of the 65th and 84th 
Regiments of Infanty, Honorary Owner and Colonel of the 
Prussian Regiment of Grenadier Guards, and of the Prussian 

Hussar Regiment, 
known as Westpha- 
lian Hussars, etc., etc. 
The young heir-ap- 
parent's tour around 
the world was notable 
by reason of the fact 
that it was the first 
occasion on which a 
Russian Emperor, 
either in posse or in 
fuiuro, extended his 
travels beyond the 
border line of Eu- 
rope. The Grand 
Duke Alexis, it is 
true, had visited the 
United States, as well 
as Australia and the 
far East of Asia. But 
his prospects of suc- 
ceeding to the throne 
are exceedingly re- 
mote, as there are not only the children of the Czar, but also 
those of the Grand Duke Vladimir, between himself and the 
Crown. Of the monarchs now living, there are two alone, 
the Kings of Belgium, and qf 3w€'den, whp haye thought It 




CZAROWITCH. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 2/5 

worth their while to visit non-European countries ; and the 
reputation they both enjoy as being the most enHghtened and 
progressive sovereigns of the age furnishes conclusive evi- 
dence as to the advantages that are Hkely to accrue both to 
Russia and to the world at large from the grand tour of the 
future Autocrat of all the Russias. In Europe his wander- 
ings are necessarily hampered to such an extent by courtly 
etiquette and diplomatic considerations that he can derive but 
little benefit from his travels. 

Both the Emperor and Empress are extremely fond of 
yachting. Two yachts — the " Dershawa " and the " Czar- 
ewna" — are constandy kept ready for sea in the special 
service of the Emperor of Russia and his family. The *' Der- 
shawa " is the larger vessel, and intended principally for 
official and representative purposes ; while the " Czarewna " 
is actually the marine home and buen-retiro of the Imperial 
family during their summer cruises, or when visiting their 
Royal relations in Denmark. On board the " Czarewna " the 
Emperor and the Empress, with their children, often spend 
weeks of a quiet bourgeois life, enjoying short trips to the 
picturesque coast around, unhampered by official cares and 
edquette. In harmony with this purpose, the rooms which 
the Imperial family occupy on board are furnished in the 
simplest style, but are most comfortable and cozy. 

The cabinet of the Emperor is on deck, with the windows 
toward the sea. It is of small dimensions, and only just 
larofe enoueh to receive a writinor table, a sofa, and a chair. 
The boudoir of the Empress below deck is equally unpre- 
tentious. 

The saloon, the largest and principal apartment, is situated 
nearly in the centre of the vessel, and contains an oblong 



2/6 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



table, round which the Imperial family assembles for their 
meals and in rough weather, while fine days are spent on 
deck, which is sheltered against the sun by an awning. Close 
to the fireplace stands a piano, sofas, and easy chairs being 
placed against the other walls, with the portrait of the Em- 
press, and shelves 
for a select library. 
The lamps and 
some of the pic- 
tures are draped 
with ribbons, on 
which verses or 





STUDY IN THE « CZAREWNA." 



SALOON IN THE " CZAREWNA." 

names are printed, a style of decora- 
tion peculiar to Russia. The likewise 
very simple officers' mess is aft ; the 
accommodation for the crew fore and 
aft. Besides the commander, there 

are six officers on board, and the crew numbers seventy 
men. The " Czarewna " is built on elegant lines, 204 feet 
long, with 1 2 feet draught. Her engine is 800 horse power, 
and her top speed is 13^ knots. 

During the summer months the " Czarewna " lies off Peter- 
hof ready for sea, and winters at St. Petersburg. 

The State balls at St, Petersburg are perhaps the most mag- 




The Czarina of Russia. 



57^ TttE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 

nificent that are given in Europe. Shortly before my depar- 
ture from the old world I had the pleasure of being present 
at the firsty^/^ of the season, and will put down here a short 
description thereof, in order to give the readers of this work 
an idea of what such ceremonies are in the Muscovite Capital. 
It took place at the Winter Palace, and although Court mourn- 
ing prevented at the time the ladies from wearing any dresses 
except white or black ones, or any jewelry except diamonds 
and pearls, yet the function was one of great brilliancy. The 
Emperor and the Empress arrived from the Annitchoff 
Palace at about ten o'clock. The latter has been their 
metropolitan residence ever since their marriage. It is 
by far the most comfortable and hom.e-like of the 
St. Petersburg palaces, being furnished and arranged in 
exact imitation of the Prince of Wales's Marlborough 
House in London. It is by far the best situated, and 
the most attractive of all the Russian Imperial residences. 
The Nevsky Prospect, which it overlooks, is the busiest and 
most fashionable thoroughfare in the city, a splendid street 
extending three miles, from Admiralty Square to the Monas- 
tery of St. Alexander Nevskoi. On one side of the palace 
are the public gardens, in which stands the famous statue of 
Catherine II. This statue was erected by the people of St. 
Petersburg, actually in opposition to the desire of the Czar 
and his family. The Imperial family does not care to cherish 
the memory of that ancestress whom Byron described so truly 
and epigrammatically. But she is to this day the idol of Rus- 
sia, second in the heart only to Peter the Great. The Czar 
and his family refused to contribute a single kopeck toward 
the statue, and even let It be known that they would rather 
not have it erected. But the Czar did not actually forbid it, 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



279 



and so the people went on, and raised the money, and put up 
the statue. It is not a particularly meritorious piece of art, 
and hence it has been said that in it the notorious Empress 
is doing penance for her sins. 

The feature of the Anitchkoff Palace, however, most attrac- 
tive to the present Czar is its garden. This is not only 
a spacious and beautiful park, but it is surrounded by a high 
and strong wall. The Imperial family can there walk about 
and enjoy the open air without being seen by the vulgar eye, 
and without fear of the bullet or bomb of the enterprising 
Nihilist. 

The Anitchkoff Palace was the favorite home of the present 
Emperor's grandfather, the Czar Nicholas. The sovereign 
dwelt there while he was Czarovitch, and was so fond of the 
place that after he came to the throne, all through his reign, 
he went back there every year to spend the weeks of Lent. 

The Wmter Palace has since the traofical death of Alexan- 
der II been used only for ceremonial purposes, such as balls, 
banquets, and other official entertainments. At the ball men- 
tioned the entire suite of state apartments on the first floor 
were thrown open and decorated with palm trees and tropical 
plants, while huge banks and mounds of violets, brought by 
a special train of eight cars all the way from Nice for the 
occasion, filled even those vast rooms v^^ith their delicate 
fragrance. The Czarina was dressed in a robe of soft, white 
silk, exquisitely embroidered with silver, the only bit of color 
about her being the light-blue ribbon of the Order of St. 
Andrew, which crossed the bodice slantingly. Alexander 
was arrayed in the somewhat barbaric-looking but gorgeous 
costume of the Cossacks of the Guard, which seemed to 
render him even more gigantic than usual. 



28o THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 

The ball was opened with a polonaise, the Emperor danc- 
ing first with the Empress, then with his sister, the Duchess 
of Edinburtrh, and afterward with the Austrian Ambassadress, 
Countess Von Wolkenstein. The Empress danced in turn 
with her eldest son and with the Austrian Ambassador, after 
which she became the partner in a quadrille of Sir Robert 
Morier, the stalwart and popular British Ambassador. 
Nothing but waltzes and mazourkas followed this solitary 
quadrille d'honeur, and at midnight the dancing ceased and 
the procession took place. Two rows of numerous small 
tables extended down St. George's Hall, and also throuofh 
the Romanoff portrait gallery and the other adjoining apart- 
ments. Each table was overshadowed by a beautiful tree in full 
leaf, beneath the shade of which the dancers fared sumptu- 
ously in parties of eight. 

The Imperial table, slightly raised and apart, was set at the 
upper end of St. George's Hall for twenty-one persons, in 
front of a colossal sideboard laden with gold plate. The 
Austrian and English Ambassadors sat on the right and left 
of the Czarina, and were, together with the new Turkish Am- 
bassador, the only persons at the table who were not of Im- 
perial or Royal blood. The Emperor, in accordance with his 
invariable custom, did not seat himself, but, after conducting 
the Czarina to her place, turned away to stroll through the 
rooms and to chat with his guests. Four regimental bands 
furnished the music in the supper-rooms. Soon after one 
o'clock dancing was resumed in the Nicholas Hall, which has 
sixteen enormous windows looking out on the Neva, and 
which is one of the largest of the palace. At three the Court 
withdrew, and shortly afterward the 2,042 guests who had 
been commanded to the ball dispersed to their homes. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

OF 

RUSSIA. 

III. 

THE CZAR is a much maligned and much misunderstood 
Monarch. In reality he is very big-hearted, kindly and 
the most scrupulously honest man in his dominions. The 
slightest suspicion of anything " shady " in money matters is 
sufficient irretrievably to ruin a man in his eyes, and this in a 
great measure accounts for the obscurity into which most of 
his father's advisers and Ministers have fallen. Many have 
been forced by the Sovereign to disgorge their ill-gotten gains 
and are utterly ruined thereby. 

It is impossible to realize the amount of corruption which 
exists on all sides in Russia, and which has created so deep 
an impression on the Emperor's mind that he imagines every- 
body to be dishonest. Ever mistrustful, he insists now on 
seeing everything, on examining everything himself, and as 
his mental powers are after all but human, the affairs of the state 
suffer in consequence, and frequently come to a standstill. 
Not even his own brothers, uncles, and cousins does he trust. 
One of his uncles, the Grand Duke Nicholas, commander-in- 
chief of the army during the last war, fell into complete dis- 
grace when it was discovered that a fair friend of his had 
accepted a bribe of ^500,000 from a firm of army contractors. 
The other uncle, the clever and ambitious Grand Duke Con- 
stantine, was dismissed from his post as Lord High Admiral 
for a series of gross peculations carried on over a period of 
twenty years. 

He was one of the most talented and clever members of 

(281) 



282 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

the Imperial House of Romanoff. Though smaller than his 
brothers, Nicholas, Michael, and the late Alexander II., he was 
vastly their superior as far as brain power was concerned. 
Indeed, he was so clever that he made numerous enemies, 
and his sharp wit and sarcastic utterances were dreaded by 
almost all who were brought into contact with him. Nothing 
was more amusinof than the manner in which he was wont to 
disconcert prosy bores who were presented to him the first 
time. His single eyeglass hung from his neck by an elastic 
cord, and as soon as ever his interlocutor had embarked on 
some long-winded speech, he would quietly give the elastic an 
imperceptible twitch, which had the effect of sending the eye- 
glass rebounding up to his eye, where it remained fixed, without 
any apparent effort or action on his part. He would then 
gaze fixedly through the eyeglass at the unfortunate speaker, 
just as though nothing had happened. The effect of this 
little manoeuvring was generally to completely disconcert the 
new presentee, whose utterances were cut short not only by 
the manner in which the monocle appeared to fly up to the 
Grand Duke's eye of its own accord, but also by the fact that 
His Imperial Highness seemed totally unmoved thereby. 

From 1865 Constantine held the post of Viceroy of the 
Kingdom of Poland. His rule was, however, regarded as 
being of too liberal a tone and he was superseded by Field 
Marshal Count von Berg, whose merciless tyranny and cruel 
despotism remain one of the darkest spots of Polish history. 
While it is notorious that Constantine was tireless in his 
efforts to persuade his brother Alexander II. to grant a con- 
stitution to the Russian nation, it is obviously absurd to give 
any belief to the assertion that he was connected with the 
Nihilist movement. The fact, however, remains that only a 



Ttl£ IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 283 

few weeks before the assassination of the late Czar, General 
Loris Mehkoff, who at that time held the post of Dictator ot 
the Empire, submitted to the Emperor not only the confession 
of a Nihilist prisoner which implicated the Grand Duke, but 
also further documentary evidence in support of the accusa- 
tion. The Czar received the papers without saying a single 
word, and the followinof mornino- handed them back to General 
Loris Melikoff. with the remark noted on the maro-in : " I 
refuse to take any note of this preposterous accusation. It 
is an infamous calumny." Alexander never made any fur- 
ther reference to the subject, but he continued to treat General 
Melikoff with the same marked favor as theretofore, a fact 
which was not without its sio-nificance. 

That the present Emperor had some feeling on the subject 
of these suspicions against the Grand Duke Constantine is 
shown by the fact that within a few days of his accession to 
the throne he summarily deprived his uncle of his post of the 
President of the Council of the Empire, and also his office 
of Lord Hiofh Admiral of the Fleet. He likewise com- 
manded him to leave the capital and to take up his residence 
in quasi banishment at Ouanda, his magnificent palace near 
Yalta, in the Crimea. A few years prior to his death, Con- 
stantine was restored to favor, at the time of the marriage of 
his granddaughter, the late Princess Alexandra of Greece, to 
the Emperor's youngest brother, Paul. From that time 
forth he resided in his palace at Pavlovsk, in the immediate 
neighborhood of St. Petersburg. 

It was Grand Duke Constantine who induced the Czar to 
issue a ukase altering the rights of succession to the throne ; 
a trivial circumstance having caused him to remark how unfor- 
tunate it would be for Russia should Grand Duke Vladimir, 



284 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

the Czar's brother, ever become the ruler of all the Russlas. 




GRAND DUKE VLADIMIR. 



It appears that a discussion took place in one of the most fa- 
mous salons of the capital as to what would have occurred if 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



28s 



none of the imperial party had escaped with their lives when 
the terrible railway accident at Borki happened. Prince Peter 
of Oldenburg, who happened to be present and who until 
recently commanded the Corps d'Armee of the Imperial 
Guard, immediately exclaimed: "In that case I should at 
once have assembled the troops under my command and 
caused them to take an oath of allegiance to the Grand Duke 

Vladimir as next 
in the line of suc- 
session to the 
throne." This re- 
mark made the 
rounds of the va- 
rious clubs and 
salons here, and 
fmally came to the 
ears of the Em- 
peror. The latter, 
although fond of 
his brother Vladi- 
mir, cordially dis- 
likes and distrusts 
the latter's wife, 
who is a German 
Princess of the 
o-rand ducal house 
Mecklenburcr- 




GRAND DUCHKSS VLADIMIR. 



of 



Schwerin by birth, and who has retained her Lutheran creed in- 
stead of becoming a member of the Russian orthodox Church. 
Horrified at the bare idea of the Lutheran Princess be- 
coming Czarina, and aware of the enormous influence which 



286 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

his beautiful but ambitious and unscrupulous sister-in-law eji- 
ercises on her huge but somewhat stupid husband, the 
Emperor, after consulting with the Procurator-General of the 
Holy Synod, M. Pobiedonotsoff, issued an Imperial ukase 
ordering the succession to the Crown. Accordino- to the terms 
of this decree, members of the Emperor's family wedded to 
Princesses who have failed to adopt the orthodox Russian 
creed at the time of their marriage, are debarred from all 
rights of succession to the Throne. Not only the Grand 
Duke and Grand Duchess Vladimir with their children, but 
also the Emperor's third brother, Sergius, who is married to 
Princess Elizabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt, were affected by the 
ukase, which has given immense offence to the Grand Duchess 
Vladimir's relatives and friends at Berlin. Vladimir is a vain, 
weak man, entirely led by his wife. His head is completely 
turned by the attentions with which he is overwhelmed In 
Germany, and the Czar always fears that he Is trying to take 
advantage of his position as brother, to Influence the Govern- 
ment in a German direction. The Grand Duchess, who is by 
no means on good terms with the Czarina, of whose superiority 
of rank, power and charm she Is jealous. Is responsible for 
much of the gambling mania which is the curse of St. Peters- 
burg society. She has a positive craze for roulette, and not 
only keeps a table at her own palace, but has also induced 
Princess Nellie Bariatinski and other leaders of Russian society 
to establish roulette tables " en permanence " In their salons. 

Another member of the Czar's family whose career has been 
a source of much distress to the Imperial House is the eldest 
son of the late Grand Duke Constantlne. 

A perfect giant in stature, hot-headed and with more of the 
Asiatic in his composition than is to be found in that of most 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 287 

Russians of the present day, the young Grand Duke in ques- 
tion became deeply infatuated in the year 1874 with the 
notorious Philadelphia adventuress, known in Europe by her 
nom de gueri'e of " Fanny Lear," and in the United States by 
that of Hattie Blackford. She had traveled to St. Petersburg 
in the company of the famous English demi-mondeine Mabel 
Grey, who is the daughter of a London cab driver and who 
subsequently became an assistant in Truefitt's hair-dresser's 
shop, in Bond street. She died a few years later at Berlin as 
the wife of a wealthy Russian Prince. 

Mrs. Hattie Blackford first met the Grand Duke at a 
masque ball, and shortly afterward the relations between them 
became of so notorious a character that Nicholas was sent to 
join the Russian army in Asia with the object of putting an 
end to the entanorlement. 

Unlike most of his countrymen, who are exceedingly fickle, 
the young Grand Duke's affection for the beautiful American 
remained undiminished by his temporary absence, during the 
whole time of which he continued to constantly correspond 
with her. On his return nine months later he resumed his 
former relations. 

Unfortunately there were at the time but few of his relatives 
whose lives were such as to enable them to preach to him on 
the subject of morality — the late Czar, his uncle, living 
openly with the sister of Prince Dolgorouki, a lady now known 
as Princess Juriewski, and whom he married morganatically 
within two months after the death of his wife, the Czarina 
Marie. 

Hattie Blackford, emboldened by the hold which she felt 
convinced that she possessed on her imperial admirer's affec- 
tions, became daily more exacting in her demands, and morq 



288 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

rapacious in money matters. With commendable prudence 
she caused some of the money which she obtained from him 
to be invested in her name at Paris and in London. Nicholas 
experienced the greatest difficulty in complying with her 
requests, for his father, although extremely wealthy, required 
such larg^e sums for his own amusements that he was able to 
spare but little for those of his son. 

Nicholas at length acquired the unpleasant experience that 
even the credit of a Russian Grand Duke may become ex- 
hausted, and, finding it impossible to obtain any further funds 
by borrowing, he determined to steal ! He was impelled 
thereto by the declaration of the fair Hattie that unless he 
was able to furnish the sums which she required for her ex- 
istence in the Russian capital she would be obliged to jilt him 
and leave Russia. 

Terribly jealous of her affection, and perfectly frantic at the 
notion of her deserting him, the young Grand Duke com- 
mitted the cowardly crime of robbing his mother of her 
jewels in order to give them to his mistress. Idolized as he 
was by his mother, he knew that, far from attempting to 
punish her first-born for robbery. Her Imperial Highness 
would, on the contrary, do everything in her power to con- 
ceal his theft. It is, indeed, doubtful if the crime would ever 
have become known had it not been for the brazen effrontery 
of Mrs. Blackford in wearing the well-known jewels in public. 

A few weeks later the climax came. Encouraged by the 
immunity which she had until then enjoyed, and with an ever 
increasing voracity for gold and jewels, she made still further 
demands on young Nicholas, and when he, in despair, expostu- 
lated and exclaimed — 

" But where can I get it from j* " 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 280 

She cynically retorted : " You know, and if you don't there 
are others who do." 

A few days later an immense sensation was created at St. 
Petersburg by the report that the magnificent gold vases, 
crosses and jeweled icons had been stolen from the Imperial 
chapel of the Winter Palace, and that the sacrilegious thief 
was no less a personage than His Imperial Highness the 
Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovitch. 

The offence on this occasion was too flaofrant to be over- 
looked. The young Prince was exiled to a small town in the 
Ural Range and was deprived of his honors and decorations. 

Hattie Blackford, in whose possession the missing objects 
were found, would doubtless have met with the fate which she 
merited had it not been for the intervention in her favor of 
Mr. Eugene Schuyler, at that time Charge d'Affaires of the 
United States in St. Petersburg, and for the fact that the 
Imperial family were, above everything else, desirous of con- 
signing the scandal to oblivion. She was, therefore, after 
she had restored all the proceeds of the two robberies, per- 
mitted to leave Russia, being escorted to the frontier by an 
attache of the American Legation and by a squad of 
gendarmes. 

In 1883 young Nicholas, who had almost passed out of men's 
minds, drew attention to the fact that he was still in existence 
and to his whereabouts, by the perpetration of another scandal, 
which, in the eyes of the Emperor, was almost as great a 
crime as the sacrilegious robbery of which he had been guilty 
in 1876. 

Ever hot-headed and reckless the young Grand Duke had 

not only become enamored of the daughter of a postmaster 

of a small mountain town in which he was forced to reside, 
19 



290 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

but had even gone through the ceremony of a religious 
marriage with her. To make matters worse, it was discovered 
that the postmaster in question was one of the most prominent 
chiefs of the Nihihsts in the province ; that the daughter was 
Hkewise affihated to the secret order, and that the Grand 
Duke himself was regarded by the conspirators as being in a 
fair way to become one of the Muscovite camorra. 

The Czar lost no time in dealinof with this new scandal. 
In the first place he caused the postmaster to be transported 
to the mines of Sangalhiem, a living tomb from which the 
man will never return. He likewise availed himself of his 
privilege as chief of the Imperial Family and as supreme head 
of the orthodox Russian Church to decree the annulment of 
the marriage of his cousin with the postmaster's daughter. 
The latter was despatched to the extreme end of Siberia, and 
there are but few persons who could tell to-day what has been 
the ulterior fate either of the g-irl or of the child of the mar- 
riage. The young Grand Duke himself was declared insane, 
was incarcerated in a fortress near Tiflis, and was deprived not 
only of his rank in the army but even of his attributes as a 
member of the Imperial family. 

The Grand Duke Alexis, the Czar's second brother, is a 
handsome, light-headed man, even more subject to petticoat 
influence than Vladimir. His romantic runaway marriage 
with Mile. Shukowska, subsequently annulled by the late 
Czar, is well known to all. For the past few years, however, 
he has been the devoted slave and admirer of the Duchesse 
de Beauharnais, the morganatic wife of his cousin, the Due 
de Leuchtenberg, and sister of the celebrated and popular 
General Skobeloff, whom she resembles in appearance, char- 
acter and insatiable ambition. Like her late brother, she is a 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



291 



rabid Panslavist, and the Czar fears that if he listens to his 
brother Alexis he may become entangled in the intrigues 




GRAND DUKE ALEXIS, BROTHER OF THE CZAR. 

of the turbulent Panslavist party. Count de Reutern was 
formerly Minister of Finance of the Empire, and stood ex- 



292 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



ceedingly high in the favor of the late Czar, who knew that 
he had in him an adviser of sterHng honesty and of tried 
fidehty. In an unfortunate moment for all concerned the 
Grand Duke Alexis became violently enamored of a particu- 
larly lovely maid of honor of his mother the Czarina. The 
object of his affection was the daughter of the famous poet 
Shukowski and the favorite niece — nay, almost the adopted 
child — of the Count de Reutern, and finding life intolerable 
without her, Alexis induced her to leave Russia and to con- 
tract a secret marriag-e with him abroad. With no thought 
of the future they established themselves In a handsome villa 
on the Riviera, where in due time the lady gave birth to a boy. 
Of course by this time the attachment of the Grand Duke, and 
his marriage, had become a matter of public notoriety. As in 
Russia the members of the Imperial House are strictly pro- 
hibited by law from contracting any matrimonial alliance with- 
out the previous consent of the Czar, the marriage was de- 
clared by the infuriated Emperor as invalid, and every 
measure that could be thought of was adopted to separate 
the young couple. One day, a few months after the birth of 
the child, Count Shouvalofif, at that time the Chief of the Im- 
perial Police, arrived at Nice, and called at the villa. The 
Grand Duke happened to be absent at the time at Paris, 
where he now spent much of his time. The Count availed 
himself of the opportunity to have a long conversation with 
the Grand Duke's wife. What passed between them it is im- 
possible to say with any certainty. But on the following day 
the ex-maid of honor left Nice with her child for parts un- 
known, escorted to the railway station by the Count. It is 
stated that he left a letter for the Grand Duke. At any rate, 
she never saw him again ; and he on his side made no effort 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



293 



to discover what had become of her. It was Immediately after 
this that he left Europe on a long sea voyage, during the 
course of which he visited the United States. Count Shouva- 
lofif, for his services in connection with this matter, was re- 
warded by the Czar with the post of Ambassador to the Court 
of St. James ; the Grand Duke's ex-wife subsequently con- 
ferred her heart and her hand on a Saxon nobleman, an 
Italian title being purchased for the nameless little boy ; and 
the Count de Reutern himself, who had suffered more than 
any one else by the flight of his niece and by her subsequent 
treatment, was forced by the withdrawal of the Czar's favor 
to resign his post of Minister of Finance, as well as all his 
other offices, and to retire into private life, where he remained 
until his death. 

Alexis, moreover, incurred the displeasure of his eldest 
brother subsequently in consequence of a scandal in which 
the name of the Duchesse Zenaide de Beauharnais, wife of 
the Duke of Leuchtenberg, a cousin of the Czar's, was in- 
volved. Thanks to her the Grand Duke was sent for a time 
in exile to the Siberian seaport of Vladivostock. 

The Duchesse de Beauharnais is without exception one of 
the most ambitious women in the Czar's dominions. En- 
dowed with extremely fascinating beauty, supremely elegant, 
and extremely clever, she experienced no difficulty in capti- 
vating, at one of the first Court balls at which she was present, 
the Duke of Leuchtenberg, a member of the Imperial family 
and known as one of the handsomest fools in Europe. In- 
deed, his stupidity has furnished the basis of innumerable 
anecdotes, both at St. Petersburg and Moscow. The mar- 
riage took place in October, 1878, Mile. Skobeleff receiving 
the title of Countess de Beauharnais in honor of the occasion. 



294 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



On the return of the Grand Duke Alexis, in 1880, from his 
visit to the United States, and from his subsequent cruise, he 
became acquainted with his new cousin, and from that time 
forth scarcely left her side. Whenever the lovely Zenaide was 
to be seen, whether on the "NefTsky Prospect" of St. Peters- 
burg, in the " Bois " at Paris, on the " Pincio " at Rome, or in 
the " Prater " at Vienna, it could always safely be taken for 
granted that Alexis was somewhere in the immediate neigh- 
borhood. This infatuation on the part of the Grand Duke 
was of the most fervent and constant nature, for it lasted 
without interruption for several years. 

The comments which it caused in every capital in Europe 
were exceedingly painful to the Czar, but as long as the hus- 
band did not see fit to interfere, it was extremely difficult to 
intervene. General Skobeleff 's death was a o-reat blow to his 

o 

sister, for she had looked forward to taking advantage of his 
fame to become not merely the left-handed but right-handed 
wife of Alexis as soon as ever her present husband, the Duke 
Euofene, had furnished a climax of his o-ood nature and in- 
dulgence by disappearing to another sphere. Her great 
ambition was to become the Grand Duchess Alexis of Russia, 
and to live in the history of her countr}^ as one of the most 
remarkable Princesses of the Imperial house. 

Although the Czar was much incensed against Alexis for 
not returning to St. Petersburg immediately after the railway 
catastrophe at Borki in which the entire Imperial family nar- 
rowly escaped final destruction, the intimacy might still have 
gone on for several years longer had it not been for an un- 
fortunate occurrence which took place on one occasion at one 
of the leading restaurants of St. Petersburg. The Grand 
Diike Alexis happened to be enjoying supper en Uk-a-tek 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



295 



with Duchess Zenaide in one of the cabinets particuliers of 
the establishment after the theatre was over. By some means 
they were brought into contact with a party of French actors 
and two actresses of the same nationaHty, who were supping 
en partie-car7'ee in one of the adjoining rooms, and finally all 
sat down at the same table together. An immense amount 
of wine was consumed and the fun waxed fast and furious, 
until finally one of the French cabotins, in a perfect ecstasy of 
loyalty towards the reigning family of Russia, threw himself 
on his knees and attempted to kiss the Duchess Zenaide's 
small foot. With one masterly kick the Grand Duke Alexis 
sent the actor flying to the other end of the room, whereupon 
a rough-and-tumble fight ensued, Alexis being attacked by 
both the actors while the fair Zenaide fell a prey to the 
drunken fury of the two Paris actresses. It was not until the 
police appeared upon the scene that peace was restored and 
the combatants were separated. It is needless to add that 
the actors and actresses in question were forced to leave St. 
Petersburg, and, in fact, Russian territory, on the following 
day, happy to have escaped a severe punishment. 

The Czar, however, to whom the occurrence was reported 
in due course by the police, was infuriated beyond measure 
by the scandal, which had made the round of every club and 
salon in the capital before twenty-four hours had elapsed, and 
determined to avail himself of the opportunity to put an end 
to the intriofue existinof between the Duchess de Beauharnais 
and his brother, and adopted the measures referred to above 
in order to do so. The Duchess de Beauharnais is still com- 
pelled to live almost altogether abroad, and it is not likely 
that the Czar will easily forgive the role which she played on 
this memorable occasion, 



2g6 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

The only man beside the Abbe ZudmowskI who has the 
least influence on the Emperor is his old tutor, M. Pobiedonot- 
soff, now President of the Holy Synod. The Czar trusts him 
alone and has unbounded confidence in his advice. Although 
the soul of honesty, he is extremely narrow-minded and big- 
oted, in fact a regular Russian of the old school, opposed to 
all the innovations of the last reign. Under his guidance of 
course the Czar, instead of moving forward more and more 
toward a liberal regime, is daily retrograding, and to M. 
Fobiedonotsoff may be attributed the withdrawal of many of 
the privileges granted to the people by the late Czar. Not 
long ago Alexander gave a striking manifestation of his senti- 
ment of gratitude and affection for his old tutor by christening 
one of the finest new ironclad cruisers of the Imperial fleet 
with the name of " Fobiedonotsoff" It is the first occasion 
on which a former professor has ever thus been honored for 
past services by an Imperial and Royal pupil ; and if the cus- 
tom is to become general it will be well for the parents of 
future Sovereigrns to exercise some care with reo-ard to the 
names of the preceptors whom they select for the purpose of 
supervising the education of their sons. 

The Czar's action in thus honoring M, Fobiedonotsoff may 
serve to draw public attention to a class of men who, after 
shaping and directing the mind and the character of the 
future rulers of the earth, are left to vegetate in obscurity, 
unnoticed, unknown and forgotten by the nation which is in- 
debted to them, above all others, either for a good or a bad 
Sovereign, and his behavior in the matter is but another proof 
of the grateful nature of the Russian Autocrat. 

A most touching incident which happened a couple of years 
ago at St. Petersburg will convince those who believe Alex^ 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 29/ 

ander III. to be unsympathetic and hard-hearted, of the extent 
of their mistake. The EngHsh nurse who took care of the 
Czar and of his four brothers when they were children died 
suddenly from old age at the Imperial Palace, where she had 
remained ever since her young charges were taken from her 
hands. The day on which she was buried was one of the 
coldest and bitterest of the winter, but nevertheless the 
Emperor, accompanied by the Grand Dukes Vladimir, 
Alexis, Seree and Paul, followed the remains of their old 
nurse, on foot, through the snow, and in the teeth of the icy 
north wind, to the English church and cemetery. The coffin 
was covered with wreaths and clusters of hothouse blossoms, 
and the Czar's eyes were full of tears as the frozen earth was 
thrown upon it and hid it from view. The Russian Imperial 
family has always possessed to a high degree a more than 
kindly regard for those who devote themselves to its members, 
and nowhere are servants better treated than at the court of 
St. Petersburor. 

Nor is Alexander devoid of a very keen sense of humor, as 
the following anecdote told to me some years ago by an officer 
of the Russian Imperial Guard will prove. " It was on a cold 
day towards the end of autumn," the young man said, "that 
I, then sub-lieutenant of the regiment of the Chevaliers 
Gardes de I'lmperatrice, placed myself in the hands of the 
well-known St. Petersburg coiffeur Deleuri and dolefully 
ordered him to shave off my mustache, the cherished spot of 
so much care and attention. Alas ! there was no help for it. 
I had been unfortunate enough to lose a wager to my pretty 

but mischievous little cousin, Vera O , who had taken a 

mean advantage thereof to extort from me a promise to have 
my photograph taken in female costume. 



298 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



" In the space of two minutes my mustache, which had taken 
so many long weary years to grow, had gone, and Deleuri 
was arranging my hair into a most elaborate coiffure, which 
he finally finished off by pinning on my head an enormous 
Rubens hat trimmed with a great yellow bird with its beak 
wide open. I had on a most elaborate , silk carriage-dress 
with a velvet mantle, and had it not been for my tall stature 
and ungainly movements I could have passed myself off as a 
by no means ill-looking young lady. Deleuri and my servant 
then helped me down stairs and across the pavement to my 
carriage ; I drove off to the Court Photographer, Levitsky, 
sitting as far back in the vehicle as possible so as not to be 
seen. 

" In far too short a time I had arrived at my destination ; the 
chasseur handed me out of the carriage, and, my deep blushes 
hidden by the vail, I began slowly to ascend the staircase 
leading to the photographic atelier on the second story. 
Suddenly, when about one-quarter of the way up, I heard a door 
open on the first-floor landing and, looking up, to my horror 
beheld the Czar coming down-stairs buttoning his long military 
cloak over his uniform. Being only nineteen years of age at 
the time, I did what many other men would have done in my 
place, that is to say, I completely lost my presence of mind. 
Instead of merely remaining where I was and curtsying as he 
passed, I drew myself up erect as if on parade with my right 
hand brought up to the side of my hat in true military salute. 
The Emperor, considerably surprised at this behavior on the 
part of such a well-dressed young lady, came down the stairs, 
stopped short in front of me, stared at me for about half a 
minute from head to foot, and finally exclaimed : ' What does 
this mean ? Who are you ? ' 'Alexis Pletneff, sub-lieutenan^ 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 299 

of the Chevaliers Gardes de I'Imperatrice, Sire,' I replied in 
fear and trembling. 'And what may be the meaning of this 
masquerade ? ' he inquired severely. ' May it please your 

Majesty, I have lost a wager to my cousin, Vera O , and have 

been called upon to pay forfeit by having myself photographed 
in ladles' dress.' Before I had finished the frown on the Czar's 
face had given way to that extremely winning smile which 
those who have seen it can never forget. ' Well, go up and 
have yourself photographed in accordance with your promise, 
and afterwards go to the General commanding your brigade 
dressed as you are, and tell him that I ordered you to report 
yourself to him.' With that he went down-stairs, leaving me 
convinced that my military career was ruined forever. 

" I hardly know how I got through the sitting for my por- 
trait, which, however, Levitsky pronounced very successful ; 
but an hour later I rang the bell at the door of General Baron 
H 's house. The orderly who answered the door in- 
quired politely, ' What name shall I announce. Miss ? ' and was 
considerably staggered when I angrily exclaimed : ' Why, 
you fool, don't you know me ? Announce Lieutenant Alexis 
Pletneff' The man stared at me for a minute, and then 
stuffing his handkerchief Into his ugly mouth to prevent his 
screaming with laughter, went Into the General's library and 
announced me. 

" I heard the General reply : ' Tell M. Pletneff to come 
right along In.' As I entered the room the General without 
looking up bade me take a seat until he had finished a letter 
he was writing. I sat for about five minutes; at length he 
threw down the pen and raised his eyes. Starting up he ex- 
claimed : ' I beg ten thousand pardons, madame, for keeping 
you waiting, but I bad understood my servant to say that one 



300 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



of my officers was here to see me.' There was no help for 
it, so standing up again as erect as on the staircase at the 
photographer's an hour previously, I brought my right hand 
up to the side of my hat in military salute and said : * Ex- 
cellency, I am Sub- 
Lieutenant Alexis 
Pletneff of your brig- 
ade. For the sake of 
a waorer I had to 2:0 
and get photographed 
in this costume, and on 
my way I met His Maj- 
esty, who ordered me 
to come and report 
myself to you dressed 

as I was.' 'Oh, !' 

shouted the dear old 
General, who was very 
fa t and apoplectic. 

* What, the Emperor 
saw you ? The Em- 
peror ! Why, the boy 
-is lost!' and almost 
choking he fell back in 
his arm-chair, gasping, 

* Water ! water ! ' 

" Seeing the old man in danger of a fit, I yelled for assist- 
ance, tore down the bell rope and attempted to unbutton the 
collar of his uniform. Amongst the persons who rushed into 
the room in answer to my calls for help was the General's 
wife, who, seeing her husband half insensible in the arms of 




GRAND DUKE GEORGE, SECOND SON OF THE CZAR. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OE RlJSSlA. 301 

a strange woman, as she thought, was seized with a violent 
fit of jealousy. Catching hold of me in no gentle manner 
and apostrophizing me as a ' shameless minx ' and other 
equally polite epithets, she attempted to pull me away. 
' Why, I am not a she, Baroness, I am a he,' exclaimed I, al- 
most crying with vexation. At these words the Baroness 
stared at me for a minute, recognized me, and then, notwith- 
standing the gravity of the situation, fell into an utterly un- 
controllable fit of lauofhter. The General recovered after a 
few minutes, and having ordered me to remain under arrest 
in his dining-room, he buckled on his sword and went off to 
the Winter Palace. 

" Meanwhile, thanks to the indiscretion of the orderly, the 
story of my adventures had spread like wildfire through the 
barracks, and within a quarter of an hour every one of my 
brother officers was in the dinino--room convulsed with 
laughter, in which, though in despair as to the future, I could not 
help joining. At last after about two hours, during which 
time I had been made to waltz or polka with each of them in 
turn, the General returned and informed me in his usual kind 
manner that the Emperor had taken the whole matter most 
good-naturedly. PJis Majesty had ordered that I was to re- 
main under arrest for two days for appearing in public with- 
out my sword, and that as soon as the photograph was ready 
I was to go to the Palace and present a copy to the Emperor 
in person. When a few days later I reported myself to His 
Majesty he chaffed me in the kindest manner about my ap- 
pearance in petticoats, and was pleased to express his high 
approval of the portrait, which he made a point of keeping," 

Of all the members of the Imperial Court of Russia the 
Count and Countess Scheremetiew are the only two who are 



3o2 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

treated by the Czar and Czarina as personal friends and 
relatives. They are the sole persons having access to the 
Monarch and his Consort who are permitted to say what they 
please and to talk to Alexander and the Empress in a perfectly 
free and unconstrained fashion. Indeed, they may be re- 
o-arded as the sole means of communication that exists be- 
tween the autocrats and the masses of the population. The 
other dignitaries of the court, thouo^h honest and devoted to 
their imperial master and mistress, endeavor to keep the latter 
from knowing anything disagreeable. 

Of course their object is to spare the Emperor and Em- 
press from trouble and annoyance, but the result is that the 
latter are kept in ignorance of many things that it would be 
far better that they should know, especially in so far as public 
opinion and the sentiment of their subjects are concerned. 
Count Scheremetiew and his wife are indebted for their ex- 
ceptional position to the fact that the Countess is a daughter 
of the Emperor's aunt, the Grand Duchess Marie, and of her 
second husband, Count Stroganoff. Moreover the Count 
himself is the son of a natural dauo-hter of Czar Alexander 
I., and, besides holding the post of Grand Huntsman of the 
Empire, is one of the wealthiest nobles in Russia. Count 
Alexander Stroganoff, the father of the present Count, and 
who died at the age of ninety-two a couple of years ago, was 
without exception the best known and most popular figure at 
Odessa, where he had resided uninterruptedly for fifty years. 
He was the Dean of the Order of St. Andrew and of all 
other Russian orders, an Adjutant-General of the Emperor, 
and a member of the Grand Council, but for over half a cen- 
tury he abstained from exercising any of the functions con- 
nected with these offices and dignities. At the time of this 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA, 303 

self-imposed exile he was Minister of the Interior, but 
quarreled with Emperor Nicholas on the ground of his son's 
relation with the Czar's daughter. The Grand Duchess was 
at the time married to the Duke of Leuchtenberg, who was 
a grandson of Empress Josephine, of France, and of the 
latter's first husband, M, de Beauharnais. The Grand 
Duchess, after a few years of marriage, declined to live with 
the Duke any longer, and had given her heart instead to 
Count Gregory Stroganoff, whose principal title to fame was 
that of being the most gigantic and most powerful man in the 
entire Russian army. 

Immediately on the death of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, 
the Grand Duchess contracted a morganatic marriage with the 
Count, greatly to the mortification and disgust of her father 
and brothers, who insisted that thenceforth she should reside 
as much as possible abroad. The Grand Duchess and her 
husband spent most of their time in the French Riviera, and 
it was there that the Count became implicated in a disagree- 
able scandal, which would have resulted in his trial for mur- 
der had it not been for the personal intervention of Napoleon 
III., at that time President of the French Republic. 

It appears that one day the Count, entering his wife's 
dressing-room, found the coiffeur arranging her hair with far 
too much empressement and familiarity. Although not 
ordinarily jealous — for a jealous disposition would be out of 
place in the husband of a Russian Grand Duchess — the 
spectacle presented proved too much for his feelings, and 
seizing the unfortunate "figaro" by his neck and nether gar- 
ments, he hurled him bodily through the window into the 
earden, two stories below. The man died a few hours later 
from his injuries, and it was only by the personal intervention 



3o4 WITHIN. ROYAL PALACfig. 

of the Grand Duchess, who proceeded to Paris for the pur- 
pose of invoking the assistance of Napoleon and of his sister, 
Princess Matilde, that criminal proceedings against the Count 
were averted. A heavy indemnity, however, had to be paid 
by the Count to the family of his victim. 

From the time of his dispute with Emperor Nicholas, Count 
Georee's father never revisited either St. Petersburg- or 
Moscow. He lived in a beautiful house looking out on the 
sea at Odessa. His household was on a princely scale, as 
befitted a man of his rank and immense fortune. He was 
exceedingly courtly and generous, although age and experi- 
ence had rendered him much of a cynic, and he professed a 
profound contempt for mankind. His friends are few in 
number, and strange, though it may appear, his most intimate 
and confidential companion was an aged Jew, almost as old 
as himself About fifteen years ago the Jew lost his entire 
fortune through no fault of his own. The Count, within 
twenty-four hours of receiving the news of his friend's loss, 
appeared in his house and laid on the table a package con- 
taining bank notes to the amount of money which the Jew had 
lost. 

" I am your oldest friend," said he. " Poverty at our age 
is hard to bear. From me you can have no compunction 
about taking this money after our years of close friendship 
and intimacy." " Do not be offended, my dear Alexa Gre- 
gorovitch, if I refuse your kindly offer," replied the Hebrew. 
" We have been close friends for many years. I do not know 
if either of us will live much longer, but I would not for the 
world that any one should be able to say, during the remain- 
ing years that we have to live, that my friendship has been 
of an interested character." The Count appreciated the 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 



305 



delicacy of his friend, and after excusing himself withdrew. 
A few days later, however, the Jew was, throijgh his influence, 
appointed to an almost sinecure government post, which 
placed him beyond want for the remainder of his days. 

The Count was almost as tall as his son and maintained 
his erect carriage to the last. There was not a man, woman, 
or child in Odessa who did not know and venerate the grand- 
looking old man, with his long, snow-white beard and superb 
air. His name figured first on the list of the citizens of 
Odessa, and so proud was he of the fact, that he omitted all 
mention of his Adjutant-Generalship and of his various dignities 
on his visiting cards, upon which he invariably described him- 
self as the first citizen of Odessa. 

The fortune which he left amounted to ten or fifteen million 
rubles in money, besides immense estates. Nor was this 
wealth of recent origin, for the Stroganofifs have always been 
among the richest nobles in the land, and the Stroganoff Palace, 
near the Police Bridge of St. Petersburof, is one of the show 
places in the Russian Capital, and was designed by the architect 
Rastrelli, who was likewise the designer of the Imperial 
Winter Palace and of the Annitchoff Palace. It contains a 
superb collection of pictures that is second in importance 
only to that at the Hermitage. The Palace has always been 
known as a centre of great charity and philanthropy. Dur- 
ing the old Count's residence there, he was, in the words of 
several of the St. Petersburg newspapers, "the eyes of the 
blind, the foot of the lame, and the friend of all." In his 
early years he took part in the war against Napoleon I., and 
was present at the occupation of Paris by the allied troops in 
181 5, being attached to the staff of Emperor Alexander as 
one of his aides-de-camp. One of his elder brothers had 



306 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

been killed three years previously while pursuing Napoleon's 
army on its disastrous retreat from Moscow to the Beresina. 
Strangely enough, the two brothers were educated by a 
French tutor, who was no other than the younger brother of 
Marat, the French revolutionist, who was killed in his bath 
by Charlotte Corday's knife. After the latter event he 
changed his name to Boudri, and subsequently became the 
French tutor of the celebrated Russian poet Bushkin, whose 
granddaughter. Countess Sophie Merenburg, contracted a 
morganatic marriage with the Grand Duke Michael Michael- 
ovitch. 

The only lady of the Court who enjoys in any way the same 
consideration as Mme. de Scheremetiew is the wife of the 
Count Woronzow Dasckow, who holds the rank of Minister 
of the Imperial Household. I'he Countess has been a mem- 
ber of the suite of the Empress since the latter came to Rus- 
sia, and she has endeared herself to Her Majesty not only by 
her tact and sympathetic character, but by her domestic quali- 
ties. She has a large family of children, to whom she is de- 
voted, and who have been brought up in the intimacy of the 
young Grand Dukes and Duchesses. Like Count and 
Countess Scheremetiew, the Woronzow Dasckows are enor- 
mously rich — their fortune, indeed, is of royal proportions — 
and it is probably the knowledge that they are placed thereby 
above the temptation of dishonesty and corruption, which is 
so rife in every class of Russian society, that induces Alex- 
ander to impose such implicit confidence in their friendship. 
Neither of them has anything to gain either financially or in 
rank from their master's favor, and their devotion is, there- 
fore, of an entirely disinterested character which the Czar, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF RUSSIA. 307 

above all others, is in a position to appreciate at its true 
value. 

The Czar's bitterness against his 5,000,000 Jewish subjects, 
which is so contrary to his personal kindly character, would 
be better understood in the western world were it not that 
hitherto the foreign public has only been made acquainted 
with one side of the question, namely, the Jewish one. This 
is due to the fact that almost all the principal newspapers of 
Europe are either owned, controlled or influenced by Hebrew 
gold. Moreover, the editors and correspondents to whose 
utterances the public is indebted for such knowledge as it 
possesses about the Jewish problem in Russia belong in 
nearly every instance to the Semitic race. Having lived 
much in Russia, I am able to state with absolute truth that 
the terrible portrayals of Jewish misery and oppression in the 
Czar's dominions are, to say the least, overdrawn and exag- 
gerated. 

In Russia, as in nearly every other country, there is an 
invasion of the indigenous Aryan by the Semite. It is true 
that there, as elsewhere, there are among these Semites not 
only men of high intellectual calibre, but also men of chari- 
table and o-enerous hearts. But the mass is not made in 
their image= The common Semite — very shrewd, very intel- 
ligent, and not too scrupulous — makes himself very free with 
the Russian people, whom he exploits with all the ingenuity 
of his race. The common run of his vocations lies in being 
tavern-keeper and money-lender of the village — at usurious 
rates — money-changer and dealer in old clothes. Moreover, 
he shirks military service by such proceedings and in such 
proportions that the law is obliged to take special measures 



3o§ Within royal palaces. 

against his desertion. Finally, he furnishes the ranks of 
Nihilism, which is opposed to all the beliefs and traditions of 
the Russian people, a contingent which is estimated at 80 
per cent. This is the regulation thing, to which have to be 
added such occasional incidents as the monstrous and incred- 
ible exploitation of the Russian army and people by fraudu- 
lent Jewish contractors during the war of 1877-78. More- 
over, the object of the exceptional laws concerning the 
Hebrews in Russia is identical with that of the analogous 
legislation against the Chinese in the United States : namely, 
the protecdon of the Interests of the poorer classes — of the 
American workingmen and of the Muscovite moujik or 
peasant. The latter is to all intents and purposes a child, 
especially in matters where money is concerned. Large- 
hearted, hospitable, and generous to a degree, he is ignorant 
of the elementary principles of economy. If an abundant 
harvest happens to fill his pockets, he spends every- 
thing, to the last kopeck, in merrymaking and drinking. 
When bad times come, the moujik, finding himself penniless, 
is obliged to appeal for assistance to the Hebrew money- 
lender, who makes the best of the bargain. The result is that 
the majority of the twenty-five millions of male peasant land- 
owners in European Russia are heavily in debt to the Jews, 
who, as a rule, display more greed than discretion in the rates 
of interest that they extort. These relations of creditor and 
debtor, which exist between the Jews on the one hand and 
the Russian masses on the other, are responsible for the most 
bitter part of the sentiments which prevail. For a debtor 
can scarcely be expected to regard with feelings other than 
of aversion a creditor who, in ninfe cases out of ten, is 
characteristically relentless in exacting his due. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

SAXONY. 

I^'HE present King of Saxony, who is before all else a 
soldier, was born in Dresden in April, 1828, son of 
King John and Princess Amelie of Bavaria. After being, 
carefully educated under his father's eye and direction, he was 
sent at the age of nineteen to the University of Bonn, where 
he studied at the same time with the then Prince Frederick 
William of Prussia, and with whom he knit a close friend- 
ship — a friendship many common battle-fields in after years 
were to cement yet closer. His studies were, however, in- 
terrupted by the Revolution of 1848, it being held desirable 
that the Prince should be in his own home, and should devote 
himself rather to military than literary studies. The war with 
Denmark in 1849 gave him his "baptism of fire,'' and he dis- 
tinguished himself on this occasion by personal bravery. 
From that time forward he rose higher and higher in military 
rank, until at last he took command of the whole Saxon in- 
fantry. 

It was in 1853 that the King, at the time Prince Albert, 
married the Princess Caroline, of Wasa, a union that proved 
childless. The following year the reigning King of Saxony 
died quite suddenly, owing to a carriage accident while driv- 
ing in Tyrol, and thus King John ascended the throne, and 
his son became Crown Prince. King John was one of the 
best Dante scholars Germany could boast. He also made the 
best nietrical translation of the " Divine Comedy," with critical 
and historical notes, that the same language possesses. 

(309) 



3IO 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 




As might be expected, the King proved himself an en- 
lip-htened Sovereign, and introduced several reforms of orreat 
benefit to his country. To his son, less literary in his tastes, 
he entrusted the military command of the land. Being bound 
by treaty to stand by the Austrians, Prussia in 1866 declared 

•war against Saxo- 
ny, overran the 
country with its 
troops, and ex- 
acted from it after 
the peace o f 
Prague a large 
sum of money 
and the cession of 
its chief fortress. 
In this war ao-ain 
Prince Albert dis- 
tinguished him- 
self, and after the 
peace, when the 
Saxon army had 
to become a part 
of the North Ger- 
man Federation, 
a leading position 
was accorded him 
by the old Prus- 
sian Monarch. 

In the terrible Franco-German struggle the Saxon Division 
fought bravely under the head leadership of the Red Prince, 
Frederick Charles, of Prussia, the father of the Duchess of 




KING OF SAXONY. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SAXONY. 3II 

Connaught. At Sedan it was a Saxon bomb that wounded 
Marshal MacMahon. Crown Prince Albert visited the sick 
man as he lay on his couch at Sedan, and both Generals re- 
called the fact that they had met last in Konigsberg, on the 
occasion of the crowning of William I. as King of Prussia. 
What events had occurred since then ! 

As the Emperor William and his son returned home, it fell 
to the lot of Prince Albert to command the Allied Armies still 
left behind in France. He was merely allowed a brief vaca- 
tion which he employed in hurrying to Saxony and fetching 
his wife to keep him company at Compiegne, Napoleon III.'s 
favorite country residence, which had been assigned to the 
Saxon Commander-in-chief for his abode while on French soil. 
When the victorious German troops made their triumphant 
entry first into Berlin, then into Dresden, the Crown Prince 
of Saxony rode proudly at the head of his men, feeling he 
had earned the enthusiastic applause that everywhere greeted 
his appearance. King William had created him General 
Field-Marshal on this occasion, and it is interesting to note 
that he carried in his hand that day the Marshal's staff which 
the Polish King, John Sobieski, had borne on his entry into 
Vienna in 1683. 

Through the ancient connection between Saxony and Po- 
land this baton had come to Dresden, and King John bestowed 
it on his son on that festive day in honor of his bravery. On 
the death of King John in 1873, Prince Albert ascended the 
throne, and under his rule Saxony has increased in prosperity. 
He and his wife have known how to make themselves popular 
and beloved among their people, and when, five. years after 
their accession, they celebrated their silver wedding, it was an 
occasion of real rejoicing. 



312 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

The Queen of Saxony is known in her kingdom as the 
"angel of the hearth." She is neither graceful, well favored, 
nor particularly clever. Her tastes are of the utmost simplic- 
ity. She is fond of knitting and of making preserves, loving 
to spend the greater part of her days beside a stove, with a 
large white apron tied over her cotton dress, and a snowy cap 
on her silvery hair, watching her jams simmering on the fire. 
She presents in every respect the most striking contrast 
to Empress Eugenie, who only became Napoleon's wife 
after Princess Caroline Wasa, as the Queen of Saxony was 
then, had indignantly refused his offer to share his French 
throne. 

Queen Caroline's great sorrow in life is that she has no 
children, and that all the more as her husband, the King, has 
quite a number of illegitimate sons and daughters by a very 
charming and beautiful actress with whom he lived for seven 
years previous to his marriage. 

Another Princess who likewise rejected an offer of marriage 
of Napoleon III. is the mother-in-law of Emperor William, 
the demented Duchess of Augustenburg. The major part 
of her life since the death of her husband has been passed in 
a private lunatic asylum at Gratz, in Austria. Among her 
fellow-patients there has been for a while, too, the Empress 
of Austria's sister, the Duchess of Alen^on, who was at one 
time betrothed to the late King Louis of Bavaria. The 
Duchess was jilted by the sensitive monarch in consequence 
of some very indiscreet conduct on her part toward an in- 
ferior, a groom or a photographer, I forget which, and it was 
the shock caused by the discovery of her behavior that led the 
King to become a misogymist. The tragical death of her 
ex-fiancee, who had refused to give his heart anywhere else, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SAXONY. 313 

resulted in her own insanity, since she considered that she 
was morally responsible for his death. 

Very mysterious were the circumstances which enshrouded 
the close of the reign of the father and predecessor of the 
present King. A few months before the accession of the 
latter, old King John conceived an insane passion for the 
daughter of the Austrian Envoy at Dresden. 

The young lady in question was engaged at the time to be 
married to one of the Secretaries of the Swedish Legation at 
Berlin. At a State ball which took place at the Palace, the 
old Monarch paid the most marked and even objectionable 
attention to her, and after offering her his arm, insulted her so 
grossly in a room adjoining the dancing hall that she left 
Dresden on the following morning. 

On hearing of her departure the King became perfectly 
crazy, and when a fortnight later the news arrived from 
Vienna of her marriage to the Swedish Secretary of Legation 
to whom she had been affianced, the King summoned his two 
sons, Albert and George, and assured them in the most solemn 
manner that he was already dead, and that the decomposition 
of his corpse was so far advanced that it was the very highest 
time that he should be buried in the graveyard of the pretty 
mountain monastery of L . 

A few minutes afterwards he became very violent, shrieking 
and raving frightfully. So sudden was the fit, that before it 
was possible to master him, he had run one of those who ap- 
peared on the scene in response to his cries through the 
breast with his sword, inflicting a wound which resulted in the 
death of the victim a few hours later. 

The doctors having declared that he was hopelessly and 
incurably mad, and the disturbed state of affairs in the king- 



314 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

dom rendering a regency exceedingly impolitic, the princes 
and ministers decided that the King should be officially de- 
clared dead. 

Accordingly, it was announced by the authorities on the 
following day that the King had been killed by a fall from 
horseback while riding in the mountains. 

Reports, however, go to show that he survived for many 

years strictly confined in the monastery of L , above 

mentioned. Certain, indeed, is it that his body did not lie in 
state at the time of the official announcement of his death, 
nor was any one, not even the Queen, allowed to see the 
corpse which was declared to be his. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

PORTUGAL. 

THE modern history of the Royal House of Portugal is 
probably the most dramatic in Europe. At^any rate 
I am not aware of any other that has furnished so many ele- 
ments of tragedy. During the past forty years a species of 
blight seems to have rested upon this ancient dynasty, and 
not only has its hold upon the loyalty of the people been grad- 
ually diminished until the country is now on the verge of a 
republican revolution, but, moreover, a large number of its 
members have met their death suddenly and in a manner 
that has left no doubt as to the existence of foul play. The 
first of the family to succumb in this manner was Queen Ste- 
phanie, who died in i860, three months after her marriage 
with King Pedro V. The latter attained his majority in Sep- 
tember, 1855, ^^^ assumed the reins of power, which, during 
his minority had remained in the hands of his father, the King 
Consort, Dom Fernando, widower of the Queen Regnant, 
Maria della Gloria. Dom Fernando subsequently became 
known to many persons in America as the husband of Miss 
Elise Hensler, of Boston, whom he married morgantically in 
1869, and on whom he caused the title of Countess Edla to 
be conferred. 

In 1858, Young King Pedro became deeply infatuated with 
the charms of the only daughter of one of the most powerful 
nobles of the kingdom. The Duke in question was himself 
a son of a Princess of the blood Royal, and the pride of both 



2l6 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

father and daughter were only equalled by their extraordinary 
ambition. King Pedro at one moment was on the point of 
makincr the dauofhter the offer to share his throne, but having 
consulted his father on the subject, was warned to pause 
before taking the step. This, together with several other 
circumstances, led the King in 1859 to become more and 
more distant in his attitude toward her, and he finally put an 
end to her aspirations by contracting a marriage with Prin- 
cess Stephanie, of Hohenzollern, in 1859. 

The Duke and his daughter, the Countess, who were una- 
able to conceal their chagrin and disappointment, left Lisbon 
a few days after the announcement of the King's betrothal, 
and did not return to the capital until three months after his 
nuptials had been celebrated. 

Within a couple of weeks after their reappearance the 
young Queen at the Court was suddenly seized with a mys- 
terious malady and expired in a few days. Of course, as in 
the case of all personages of royal rank, an autopsy took 
place, but either the insidious poison had not left a trace or it 
did not occur to the physicians to look for it, and death was 
attributed to natural causes. 

In the summer of the following year King Pedro's younger 
brothers, Dom Luis and Dom Joao, paid a visit to England, 
and were hospitably entertained by their relatives, Queen Vic- 
toria and Prince Albert, who both became very warmly attached 
to them. While in London the Chief Commissioner of the 
Metropolitan Police repeatedly urged the Portuguese envoy 
to hasten the departure from the metropolis of the two 
Princes, stating significantly that he was terrified lest an 
" accident of a doubtful nature" should happen them while 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PORTUGAL. 



317 



there, and that he dedined the responsibihty imposed upon 
him by their presence. 

Curiously enough, it was after a banquet at which the Prince 
Consort occupied a place which had been intended for Dom 
Luis that the former 
was seized with the 
first symptoms of 
that " feverish cold " 
which a few weeks 
later deprived Queen 
Victoria of the wisest, 
most sagacious, and 
most devoted of hus- 
bands. 

The visit of the 
Princes to England 
was unexpectedly cut 
short by an urgent 
summons for their 
immediate return to 
Lisbon, in conse- 
quence of the sud- 
den illness of their 
brother. King Pedro. 
Almost before they 
had sailed from Portsmouth, the news arrived of his demise. 

It is related that six weeks previous to his death he had one 
morning while out shooting in one of the Royal preserves, 
near Lisbon, found nailed to a tree a placard bearing the 
followinor words : 

" Pedro, se andas delegate olha que vais San Vincente " 




KING OF PORTUGAL. 



3l8 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

(Pedro, if you do not change you will shortly sleep in St. 
Vincent's), the latter being the burial-place of the Kings and 
Queens of Portugal. Pedro, who since the death of his wife 
had been subject to fits of melancholia and depression, 
perused the writing on the placard, as did also the gendemen 
of his suite, and then, without expressing either astonishment 
or surprise, gave orders for its removal and destruction. 

Another strang-e incident in connection with the King-'s 
death was that a few hours before it took place the cook es- 
pecially intrusted with the preparation of the monarch's own 
meals was discovered dead in a small, deserted street in the 
neighborhood of the Royal Palace, with a knife of foreign 
manufacture through his heart. 

The ceremonies in connection with the sovereign's funeral 
had not terminated when the sorrowing father, Dom Fer- 
nando, the King Consort, was summoned from Lisbon to the 
Palace at Belem by news that his third son, Dom Joao, the 
most popular and talented of all the, Portuguese Princes, had 
been seized with the same malady which had carried off the 
King and Queen. On arrival there he found that the young 
Prince, who in the course of his travels round the world had 
visited the United States, had been seized that very morning 
with convulsions, after smokine a few whiffs of a cio-ar which 
he had taken from a boxful on the table in his library. He 
had quickly thrown it aside, exclaiming in disgust: "What a 
vile weed !" 

A little Chinese page, whom he had brought back from 
Macoa with him, and who was permitted all the liberties of a 
toy terrier, immediately picked up the cigar from the ground, 
and began to puff away at it with truly Oriental gusto. He, 
too, had been seized shortly afterward with convulsions, and 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PORTUGAL. 3I9 

before nightfall both the Sailor Prince Joao and his little 
Chinese page were dead, the symptoms being identical with 
those of the deaths of the King and Queen. No trace of the 
box of cigars could be found. 

On the following day, and before any steps had been taken 
to obtain the key to this terrible mystery, the father was called 
from the Palace of the Necessidades by the news that his 
sons, King Luis, Dom Augustus, and the sixteen-year-old 
Dom Fernando, all of whom he had left in good health the 
day before, had been stricken by the same mysterious malady. 
Half-crazed with grief, he was pacing the floor of his library, 
when his confidential aide-de-camp entered his presence, and 
besought him to receive a gentleman who had that very 
moment arrived in Lisbon from London. 

The visitor, he believed, was a physician, or a chemist of 
some kind, and demanded to see the King Consort on a 
matter of life and death. He had mentioned the fact that he 
had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the Duke and 
his daughter, the Countess, during the stay in London in i860. 

" Show the Enorlishman in at once !" he exclaimed. 

For almost an hour the Kingf Consort and the strano-er re- 
mained closeted together, and on the termination of the in- 
terview they betook themselves to the bedside of the sick 
Princes, whose treatment was at once changed. The medi- 
cines administered to the Royal patients by the English doctor 
were such as would be used as antidotes to the Javanese 
Tiente poison, and to that of the Euphorbia keptagona, which 
is found and prepared in Abyssinia. 

The malady, however, had already gained too great a hold 
on the system of young Prince Ferdinand, whose constitution 
had never been particularly strong, and he succumbed on the 



320 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



following day. Dom Augustus recovered at the time, as did 
also his brother, King Luis, who had been less severely 
attacked by the poison. 

A dramatic scene took place a few nights later in the Privy 

_ , Council Chamber. At the 

head of the table stood King 
Luis, only just convalescing 
from the malady which has 
proved so fatal to his family. 
By his side stood his father, 
the King Consort. Suddenly 
turning to the Duke, already 
referred to, and who, by 
virtue of his rank of office 
and birth, stood immediately 
on his left hand, the young 
monarch exclaimed, in tones 
of exceeding solemnity: 

" Mon cousin, after consul- 
tation with our illustrious 
father, and with the nobles 
here present, we have deter- 
mined to confide the guar- 
dianship of our Royal person 
to your keeping. It is you 
who will be held responsible 
for the charge, both toward those here present, and to the 
nation at large. You will spend the remainder of your 
life in close attendance on our Royal person, and by 
reason of the charge intrusted to you we can never permit 
your absence from Court. In token of our special good-will 




QUEEN OF PORTUGAL. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PORTUGAL. 321 

we Will have appointed this day your daughter, the Countess 
Leonora, to the post of Abbess of the Convent of Noble 
Ladies. We will surround the throne of Portugal w'th 
members of your family, and the seigneurs here present 
will answer for your fidelity." 

Two years later the Princess Pia, youngest daughter of 
King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, arrived at Lisbon to share 
the throne of the King of Portugal, who, however, never 
entirely recovered from the effects of the poison, and re- 
mained an invalid to the day of his death, three years ago. 
The Duke, now almost eighty years of age, still retains his 
position at Court, which he held in 1861, and rarely absents 
himself from Lisbon. His daughter, the Countess Leonora, 
is likewise yet alive, and rules the noble inmates of the Con- 
vent of which she is Abbess with a rod of iron. 

A very masterful woman in her way is the Queen's mother, 
Pia, who deeply deplored her husband's death, not only on 
account of the blow to her affections sustained thereby, but 
also in consequence of the fact that it deprived her of much 
of the power which she had until then possessed. 

The late King Luis was a man of very indolent character, 
who allowed himself to be entirely guided and influenced by 
his clever and energetic wife. The Queen hoped at one time 
that she would be able to retain a similar influence over her 
eldest son, and was, in fact, able to do so until his marriage 
with Princess Amelia, a daughter of the Count of Paris. Soon 
after her son's wedding, however, she found that her daugh- 
ter-in-law was as independent and as anxious to rule as 
herself, and for the first year or two the atmosphere of the 
Lisbon Court was exceedingly squally, and the breezes 

between the two royal ladies were sharp and frequent 
21 



322 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Since the young King's accession to the throne the ascend- 
ency of his wife has increased, and his mother has been driven 
almost altogether into the backg^round and into retirement. 
The extent to which she feels and resents this is shown by 
the fact that her name is often mentioned, even in Court cir- 
cles at Lisbon, as the possible organizer of a coup d'etat in 
favor of the overthrow or enforced abdication of her eldest 
son, and of his surrender of the throne to his second brother, 
who is her favorite, and Is entirely subject to her control and^ 
influence. 

Queen Pia's favorite residence is Granja, a pretty bathing- 
place about eight miles from Oporto. She has been a most 
generous benefactress of the place, carrying consolation and 
charity into the very humblest habitations. Moreover, in 
years gone by she rescued, at the peril of her own life, two 
children who were in danger of drowning.- The boat in which 
they were rowing had capsized, and they were just about to 
sink for the last time when the Queen, who had thrown her- 
self into the water fully dressed, swam to the spot and held 
them up until a boat could reach them. It is for this act of 
bravery that she wears the ribbon and the medal for saving 
life, which she prizes more highly than all the other orders and 
decorations which she possesses. 

The present King, Dom Carlos, a very fair-haired and 
extremely stout young man, is quite as indolent and quite as 
submissive to the predominating influence of his French wife 
as his father was to his Italian Consort. Queen Amelie, more- 
over, resembles her mother-in-law, in her masterful disposi- 
tion. From her mother, the Countess of Paris, she has inher- 
ited simple tastes with regard to dress that are in complete 
contradiction with the doctrines of Queen Pia, and from her 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF PORTUGAL. 



3^3 



mother, too, she has inherited her passionate love of every 
form of sport. She is a splendid equestrienne, a capital shot, 
and like her mother, is very fond of smoking. She can 
scarcely be described as pretty, or even as good-looking, as she 
is very tall, large boned and her features are quite prominent. 
Ever since her husband succeeded to the throne they have 
been surrounded by difficulties 
of every kind, both financial 
and political, and several times 
the kingdom has been on the 
vergre of a revolution. If the 
King has managed until now 
to steer clear of all fatal rocks 
it is due in a very great mea- 
sure, if not altogether, to the 
sound common sense and 
sterling, I may even say mascu- 
line, qualities of his somewhat 
homely but clever and saga- 
cious wife, who has recently 
been awarded by the Pope the 
rare honor of the Golden Rose. 

The King and Queen are dowager queen of Portugal. 

accustomed to spend their summer, or at least a portion 
thereof, at Coimbra, and are generally present at the curious 
and ancient ceremony which takes place there in the month 
of August every year. The old Gothic church of Santa 
Cruz, where Alfonso Henrique, the first King of Portugal, 
lies entombed to the left of the altar, is the scene of this 
ceremonial, which dates from the thirteenth century. It 
consists of the solemn removal of the body of Queen 



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3^4 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Isabella (the Consort of King Denis, generally called "the 
Holy Queen," who died in 1236) from the Convent of St. 
Claire to the church in question; wherein it lies for a few 
days exposed to the worship of the faithful, and is then 
taken back with equal pomp to its usual resting-place. 

Of course, a V heure ou nous sommes, the "Holy Queen" 
Is nothing but a dried-up and mummified skeleton ; but she 
is treasured piously in a silver tomb all the year round, and 
when the anniversarv of her death comes about, she is cere- 
moniously carried to the Church of Santa Cruz, while the 
whole population goes thither to pass before the image that 
stands in that edifice — a queenly figure, in Royal red mantle 
and ermine, a crown on its head, and a long veil spotted with 
gold, and the miraculous roses of the legend escaping from 
her robe, while a beggar at her feet entreats the alms that her 
husband, Denis the hard-hearted, forbade her to give. The 
procession that conveys the Saint from her convent is most 
imposing, crossing the River Mondego, and traveling a con- 
siderable length of streets, and King Carlos usually walks 
at the head of it bareheaded all the way, unheeding the 
blazing sunshine ; while the Queen, with her young children, 
waits under an awning, erected close by the bridge that spans 
the river, and falls on her knees in devout worship when the 
cortege passes by her. Subsequently their Majesties and a 
select company are admitted " behind the scenes," so to speak, 
and allowed actually to kiss the saintly Queen's dead hand as 
she lays in the sarcophagus, all draped with rich antique bro- 
cade, swathed in soft, silken folds. Few would have cared to 
disturb them, one would imagine, and the priests are very 
particular not to have them touched, as a rule, for fear lest 
the elderly skeleton should fall to dust altogether. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

OF 

GERMANY. 
L 

OF all those whom it has been my good or bad fortune 
to know personally, the late Emperor Frederick was 
undoubtedly the one who gave one most thoroughly the idea 
as to the kind of man who was destined by Providence to 
rule over his fellow-creatures. Both in appearance and in 
demeanor there was a certain natural majesty and unaffected 
dignity which impressed all of those with whom he was brought 
into contact. A magnificent specimen of the most perfect 
physical and mental type of manhood, the very sight of him 
was sufficient to cause one to think better of the human race, 
and to stimulate the better qualities, the courage and energy 
of those who approached him. Moltke was aware of this 
when, at the outbreak of the war of 1870, he insisted that 
" Unser Fritz " should have the command of the South Ger- 
man contingent, the fidelity of which was questioned, owing 
to the bitter animosity that prevailed — and for the matter of 
that, still prevails — in South Germany against Prussia. Moltke 
felt that it was the Crown Prince alone who could succeed in 
infusing them with enough patriotism to fight and with suffi- 
cient enthusiasm to vanquish the enemy. Troops commanded 
by him in person became practically invincible, for every sol- 
dier in the ranks was stirred by the sight of his princely leader 
to deeds of courage and daring. Even the oreatest coward 
became a hero when he felt the kindly eye of " Frederick the 

(325) 



326 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 





Noble " upon him. 
And the eye was in- 
deed a kindly one, in 
perfect keeping with 
his gfentle demeanor, 
;his unaffected good- 
nature, his utter ab- 
sence of self-suffi- 
ciency. The Ger- 
mans have one word 
which expresses all 
this, namely, leuthsee- 
lig, and Frederick 
III. was certainly the 
most leuthseelig 
Monarch who ever 
sat upon a Throne. 
His father, the old 
Emperor William, 
was a far less im- 
pressive personage, 
notwithstanding his 
great stature and 
handsome appear- 
ance. Indeed, the 
feelings with which 
his aspect imbued 
me were those which 
naturally I should 
have experienced 
for any poor old gentleman hovering on the edge of the grave. 




EMPEROR FREDERICK. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



327 



The present Emperor offers a most striking contrast both 
to his grandfather and to his late father, and his character 
may be summed up in one single French word — poseur. Every- 
thing that he either says or does is for the sake of effect, and 
it is an open question as to whether there is one hour in the 
twenty-four, save the time devoted to sleep, when he is not 
in the act of posturing for the sake of some person or other. 
On no occasion did this trait of his character strike me so 
much as at a reception given a few years ago at Berlin by his 
mother, the Empress Frederick, at that time only Crown 
Princess. Among the distinguished guests present was Car- 
dinal Prince Hohenlohe, the most witty, worldly and cynical 
member of the Sacred College. 

Standing in front of the fireplace of one of the salons, he 
was carrying on an animated conversation with Prince Wil- 
liam. Although the utterances of His Eminence were soft 
and melodious, yet their tone was sufficiently distinct to enable 
the guests in the room to appreciate the sparkling and bril- 
liant nature of his remarks. Each witticism that he made — 
and they were many — Prince William endeavored to cap in a 
clumsy, boorish way which had on those of us who were 
present much the same exasperating effect as chattering does 
during the performance of some particularly sweet and ex- 
quisite piece of music. His elephantine and coarse attempts 
at humor were delivered in a loud, harsh tone of voice, the 
object being to avoid that any one should be unfortunate 
enough to fail to hear his ponderous jokes, and nothing could 
be more curious than his quick, furtive glance around the 
room while he was speaking, for the purpose of noting the 
effect created upon us by his utterances. Of a nature ex- 
ceedingly coarse, it is not astonishing that his sense of humor 



^28 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

should be distinguished by the same characteristic, and when 
he tries to be funny he is frequently nasty, and would be 
regarded as objectionably vulgar were he not one of the most 
powerful Monarchs of the day. 

His physique is of the same coarse grain as his character, 
and his features present such a contrast to the high-bred and 
good-humored face of his brother, and to the healthy and 
rosy countenances of his younger sisters, that one is almost 
tempted to doubt the relationship. His hair, though thin, is 
by no means of fine texture, and is of a dull, nay, almost dead 
color. He has experienced the utmost difficulty in raising a 
mustache, possibly in consequence of the volcanic complexion 
with which he was afilicted until quite recently. Moreover, 
his hands are cold and clammy — a fact in itself which is suf- 
ficient to prejudice many persons against him. His uniforms 
are padded in the most outrageous fashion, and he wears ex 
ceedingly high-heeled boots for the sake of increasing his 
stature, which is about that of the Prince of Wales. 

Like all vain people the Emperor is easily led and also 
easily deceived. A couple of years ago he was made the 
victim of a practical joke which kept not alone his subjects 
but all Europe on the broad grin for many weeks. The 
" Ambassadors of the Sultan of Mandara " arrived one day 
at Berlin, where they were received with much distinction by 
the Emperor and Empress, occupying at the review given at 
the time in honor of the King of Italy places as prominent 
as those of the United States delegates to the Samoan Con- 
vention, being furnished with officers and aides-de-camp in 
waiting, and finally leaving Germany on their return home 
loaded with costly presents of every kind. Nobody seems to 
have taken the trouble during their presence at Berlin to 



THR IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 329 

make any inquiries about the " Sultanate of Mandara," and 
both the Government and the pubhc appear to have taken it 
for granted that the " Ambassadors " were authorized to rep- 
resent a high and mighty potentate of an importance and 
rank at least equal to that of the Sultans of Morocco and 
Zanzibar. 

After their departure, however, it came to light that Man- 
dara is nothing- but a villao^e on the southern side of Mount 
Kilima-Njaro, that its inhabitants do not number more than 
1,800 at the very most, of which not more than 200 are able 
to bear arms, and that finally the so-called Sultan is but a 
mere villaofe chief, whose main source of revenue is derived 
from brigandage and theft. Indeed, of so little importance is 
the " Empire of Mandara " that it is not even deemed worthy 
to figure on the maps. 

Astounded by these revelations, which were confirmed by 
evidence of the most incontestible nature, inquiries were im- 
mediately-instituted as to how the negro " embassy" in ques- 
tion had come to be dispatched to Berlin. The only person 
who could have afforded any exact information on the subject 
was M. Otto Ehbers of the German East African Company, 
who had accompanied them from Zanzibar to Berlin. But un- 
fortunately, he was at the moment at sea on his way back to 
Africa, together with his sable companions. By dint of tele- 
graphing to the German Consulate at Zanzibar and to the Di- 
rector of the German East African Company there, it was 
finally ascertained that the four negroes who had been re- 
ceived with so much ceremony at Court were nothing but 
ordinary villagers who had been designated by the chief of 
their tribe to assist M. Ehbers in conveying his impedimenta 
from Mount Kilima-Njaro, where he had been stationed for 



330 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

some months, to the coast. They were, in fact, nothing but 
mere bearers. 

On M. Ehber's arrival at Zanzibar some one there had 
written to BeHin to say that four " wild Mandara men " had 
reached that place and was attracting much attention. In re- 
sponse to this letter a cable dispatch was received from 
some personage whose identity has remained unknown re- 
questing that they should be brought to Berlin. M. Ehbers 
had accordingly with great difficulty persuaded them to em- 
bark, and on the arrival of the vessel at Aden had been 
obliged to keep them under lock and key. 

Both the Kmperor and the authorities seemed at first dis- 
posed to make M. Ehbers the scapegoat of the whole matter 
and to hold him accountable for having rendered them for the 
nonce the laughing stock of Europe. It was fortunate for 
him that he was far away at the time, for the Emperor was so 
infuriated that he hardly knew what to do in order to revenge 
himself for the insult put upon him. 

To those on whom he desires to create an agreeable im- 
pression he is exceedingly gracious — but in so effusive a 
manner as to leave doubts of his sincerity. In fact, at no 
time, not even in moments of apparent abandon, does he give 
the impression of being natural and sincere. He should 
have been born an actor, for he has inherited from his grand- 
mother. Empress Augusta, much of that staginess for which 
she was distinguished, and, like an actor, too, he has a perfect 
mania for notoriety. It is this last characteristic which has con- 
stituted the principal motive of many of his most extraordi- 
nary freaks since his accession to the Crown, and it was this, 
likewise, that led to the estrangement from his parents which 
so embittered the closing years of his father's life. Simple, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 33 1 

unaffected and natural himself, Emperor Frederick could not 
tolerate his son's vanity, desire for notoriety and conceit. In 
his quiet, gentle way, he sought to keep the young man in the 
background until he had concluded the hopeless task of cur- 
ing him of his overwhelming bumptiousness. William never 
forgot or forgave his father's efforts to suppress that which he 
considered as his cleverness and genius, and eagerly swallowed 
the insinuations of his courtiers to the effect that Frederick's 
attempts to keep him down were entirely due to the father's 
jealousy of his son's extraordinary talents. 

Such is the youth whose damp and clammy hands white- 
haired statesmen and generals consider it as a privilege to 
kiss, and whose smile and frown are awaited with trembling 
anxiety by thousands of clever, shrewd and highly talented 
Germans. What wonder, then, that he should regard himself 
as enjoying a greater degree of intimacy with Providence 
than the rest of mankind. The name of God figures in all 
his speeches, is referred to even in the most trivial matters, 
and is treated by that young Emperor with a degree of 
familiarity that would be touching did it not fringe the border 
line of blasphemy. For it is not the God of Christianity at 
large to whom he alludes, but a special particular Divinity 
who is supposed to regard the German Emperor as His 
Favorite and most preferred child. It is a God who marches 
with the German Army when it goes to war with some weaker 
neighbor. It is a God who has entrusted the German people 
to William as a talent which the latter is determined to in- 
crease before returning to his Maker, to whom he is alone 
responsible. It is a God who will help him to crush his 
enemies both at home and abroad, and according to William's 
own confession, contained in one of his recent public speeches, 



332 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

when he is moved by the beauties of nature to commune with 
his God, he assumes the attitude of " present," brings his 
heels together with a clash of the spurs and pays to the 
Almighty the same military honors as if the Divinity were a 
Field- Marshal, and a Prussian one at that. 

Many of the Emperor's eccentricities may, it is true, be 
attributed to his state of health, which is anything but reas- 
suring to his subjects. The technical name of his malady is 
otitis media, and in the case of the young monarch it has 
proved, as in that of many others of its victims, to be an in- 
curable disease. It is not my intention to expatiate here upon 
its various features, for they are scarcely of a nature to prove 
palatable to my readers. They are, however, identical with 
those of the malady of King William IV., of Prussia, grand- 
uncle of the Emperor, and which culminated in his insanity. 
The King was not, however, deprived of the reins of Govern- 
ment and placed under restraint until he had in turn as- 
tounded, alarmed and shocked all Europe by his extraordinary 
vagaries. 

There are many traits of resemblance between this Monarch 
and the present occupant of the Prussian throne. In both 
we find the same strongly developed tendencies to religious 
mysticism, the same belief in their divine mission and in their 
infallibility. Both, too, have been remarkable for their gen- 
erous impulses of an impracticable character, and in their para- 
doxical combination of a Liberalism akin to downright So- 
cialism with autocratic and absolutist ideas worthy of the 
middle ages. Like Emperor William, King Frederick Wil- 
liam was often animated by the noblest and most highminded 
intentions, was anxious personally to right every wrong, and 
to assume the role toward mankind in general, and to his 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMaNV. 



333 



subjects in particular, of an all-wise and far-seeing providence. 
His endeavors to be all things to all men failed, however, as 
completely as those of his grand-nephew appear to have 
done. He gave satisfaction neither to the classes nor yet to 
the masses, and in 1 814 he was called upon to witness scenes 
of conflict between the authorities and the people in the 
streets of Berlin similar to those which the Emperor looked 
down upon from his palace windows some time ago. 

In the case of King Frederick William IV., as in that of 
the Emperor, everything that could be done was attempted 
to cure his peculiar malady, the demoralizing character of 
which will be realized when it is stated that his only relief 
from suffering is obtained when the ear is in a state of 
abundant suppuration. There is no other alleviation from 
the most racking pains in the side and in the back of the 
head, which become downright maddening when, for one 
reason or another, the suppuration is temporarily arrested. 
Many allowances must assuredly be made for men thus af- 
flicted, more especially when it is borne in mind that they 
have nothine else to look forward to than the terrible fate of 
insanity. For the disease is not one of those the progress 
of which can be checked. It moves slowly but surely toward 
the brain, and as soon as ever the process of decomposition 
reaches that source of all the mental faculties and intelligence, 
the name of young Emperor William, the most interesting 
and in some ways attractive figure of the present times, will 
have to be added to that lone list of lunatic monarchs. 

The list is indeed a long and monotonous one ; nor is it 
necessary to go back to the days when David was wont to 
play before King Saul to find notable instances of Sovereigns 
who have become insane. The last two centuries furnish us 



^2^4 WtTHIN ROYAL fALACES. 

with many examples, and there is not a single established 
dynasty in Europe which does not include among the roll of 
its reio-ningr Princes and Princesses names of Sovereio-ns who, 
instead of being in a condition to rule their subjects, were 
only fitted to exercise their sway in Bedlam. 

Prussia, as I have stated above, has already furnished 
one lunatic King in the person of Frederick William IV., 
and now appears to be destined to add another name to the 
place which it occupies in the record. The late Emperor of 
Austria, the uncle and predecessor of the present monarch, 
was deposed — or I should rather say was forced to abdicate — 
in 1848 in consequence of his deplorable mental condition, 
the result of epilepsy. The cases of the late King Louis of 
Bavaria, who committed suicide, after having been placed 
under restraint as insane, and of his brother and successor, 
King Otto, who has never enjoyed a moment of lucidity since 
he ascended the Throne, are of so recent date that they will 
still be fresh in the minds of most of my readers. The late 
King of Saxony was as mad as a March hare during the last 
year of his life, and his freaks were a perpetual source of 
terror to his relatives and to the members of his Court. In 
the same way the late King of Holland became a complete 
mental wreck toward the close of his reign, and for almost 
two years the Netherlands were ruled in his name by his con- 
sort, who had been entrusted with the regency during the 
period of his mental affliction. The Royal House of Belgium 
furnishes its quota to the list in the person of King Leopold's 
only sister, the ex-Empress Charlotte, of Mexico, who became 
insane at the time of the reverses and death of her husband 
five and twenty years ago. 

King George the III. is the only British monarch who in 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



335 



modern times has been placed under restraint and deprived 
of his authority for insanity. Similar measures were on the 
point of being adopted at one time with regard to his son 
William IV., whose conduct while on the Throne was charac- 
terized by an eccentricity that bordered on lunacy. Czar 
Paul, who reigned in Russia at the beginning of the present 
century, was a dangerous maniac, so much so, indeed, that the 
members of his household who assassinated him, with the 
connivance of his sons, were regarded as public and national 
benefactors rather than murderers and traitors. A similar 
fate overtook that gloomy fanatic, Abbas I., of Egypt, the 
record of whose insane cruelties constitutes the darkest page 
of Egyptian history. 

In Turkey, the ex-Sultan Murad, brother of the present 
Caliph, is under restraint in one of the least fairy-like palaces 
that line the shores of the Bosphorus. He was deposed after 
a reign of only six months on the ground of insanity, and as 
his recovery would involve his restoration to the Throne in 
the place of its present occupant, it is probable that he will 
remain demented, at any rate nominally so, until his incar- 
ceration is terminated by death. 

The Royal House of Spain has furnished several Kings of 
unsound mind. So, too, have the dynasties of Denmark and 
Sweden. An enumeration of the petty German Sovereigns 
who have been bereft of their senses would occupy too much 
space and time for insertion in this book. They are very 
numerous, prominent among them being the so-called " Dia- 
mond " Duke of Brunswick, and the late King of Wurtem- 
berg, who would have been deposed long before his death 
had it not been for the anxiety of his masterful Russian wife 
to retain the executive power in her own hands, which she 



^3^ WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

could no longer have done had a regent been appointed in 
the person of the present King. 

Of course there are many other rulers, some of them now 
living, whose subjects are firmly convinced that they are in- 
sane, or at any rate that they have bees, of a particularly 
large size, buzzing about in their bonnets. That most of them 
would be accounted eccentric, if ordinary citizens, it is impos- 
sible to deny. But then allowances should be made for 
them. For they regard the remainder of mankind from such 
an exalted altitude, according to their own estimation, that it 
is not surprising that their brains should at times begin to 
whirl and become dizzy. 

To return, however, to Emperor William. 

So serious during a time were the doubts as to his sanity 
of mind, and so prevalent and wide-spread were the rumors 
on the subject, that he determined to submit himself to a 
medical examination of an international character in order to 
offer a conclusive refutation to the assertions in the English, 
the French and the American press that he is more or less 
insane. Although leading experts had been invited from 
Austria, from England, from Italy, Denmark and Sweden, to 
come to Berlin and to make a thorough examination and 
give a complete report upon the cerebral condition of His 
Majesty, yet the consultation did not take place, thanks to the 
timely interference of the Empress, who persuaded her hus- 
band to give up the project for the time being. 

Unparalleled as is the project, it is just the kind of freak 
that would appeal to the eccentric mind of the young monarch, 
and I for one shall not be astonished if this altoo^ether un- 
usual consultation takes place after all, some day or other. 
The mere fact, however, that it should have been spoken of 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 337 

and discussed shows that the Emperor's mental condition is 
not altogether normal. Nor is there any reason to be as- 
tonished at this, for, notwithstanding all the praise that has 
been lavished upon the Hohenzollern family in connection 
with their apparently superb physique, yet they most of them 
have been a sickly and even unhappy lot. 

Many of the paradoxical and contradictory features of the 
Emperor's character are traceable to the influence and teach- 
ings of his tutor, Professor Hintzpeter. The latter is just as 
full of extraordinary contrasts as his Imperial pupil ; and the 
strange mixture of mediaeval and despotic ideas concerning 
the Divine Right of Kings, combined with liberalism so ad- 
vanced that it verges on socialism, manifested by the young 
monarch, are developed to a still greater degree in his former 
teacher. The professor, although impregnating the mind of 
his pupil with doctrines of equality, and insisting that the 
Prince should, for the first time in Prussian history, take his 
place as an ordinary scholar on the benches of the public 
school at Cassel, beside boys of the most humble condition in 
life, would on the other hand tolerate no familiarity or even 
condescension on the part of the Royal lad toward inferiors. 
Indeed he even went so far as to force the Prince to wash his 
hands carefully whenever he had so far forgotten himself as 
to shake hands with any one of subordinate or menial rank. 

Another trait of character which Emperor William has de- 
rived altogether from Dr. Hintzpeter is the firm conviction 
that difficulties, no matter how vast and intricate, are always 
capable of being setded and satisfactorily arranged by means 
of eloquent phrases and good intentions. It is to Professor 
Hintzpeter that the world is indebted for Emperor William's 



338 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



anxiety to figure as a sort of universal arbitrator and general 
settler of every question or problem that is in dispute. 

Emperor William, who is naturally of an excitable and 
nervous temperament, never loses an opportunity of school- 
ino- himself to prevent any display of feeling. On one 
especial occasion he gave a most astonishing exhibition of 
absolute self-control, and even cold-bloodedness. During 
the State performance at the Royal Opera, in honor of the 
marriage of the Empress's sister to Prince Frederick Leopold, 
the dress of the premiere danseuse caught fire from a gas-jet 
in the wings, and in a moment she was wrapped from head to 
foot in a sheet of flame. With great presence of mind, the 
principal basso, who was standing near by, draped in a Roman 
toga and waiting to "go on," dashed her to the ground, and 
tearing the toga from his shoulders, enveloped her in its capa- 
cious folds, thereby extinguishing the flames. She was, how- 
ever, so badly burned that during three days her life was 
despaired of, and as it is the poor girl remains disfigured for 
life. Her rescuer was also badly burnt about the hands, arms 
and face. The incident, although concealed from the major 
portion of the audience, was plainly visible from beginning 
to end to the Emperor, who was seated in one of the stage 
boxes. Notwithstanding- the excitinof nature of the scene, he 
neither raised a hand nor even moved in his chair, but remained 
apparently indifferent and unconcerned, coldly gazing on the 
poor girl battling with the cruel flames. Only at the conclu- 
sion of the act did he send one of his aides-de-camp to make 
inquiries as to the condition of the sufferer. 

On another occasion the Emperor was riding through the 
streets of Berlin at the head of a regiment of the guard. 
Suddenly the horse of his aide-de-camp, who was riding 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



339 



behind him, took fright, and after rearing on its hind lees 
finally dashed passed the Emperor and crashed down on the 
pavement, hurling its rider with great force headforemost 
against the curbstone. 

The young officer was rendered unconscious by the shock 
and was believed at first by the spectators to have had either 
his skull smashed or his neck broken. Not one muscle of the 
face nor one movement of concern did the Emperor make as 
he witnessed the accident, but rode slowly on just as if abso- 
lutely nothing had happened, without showing the slightest 
interest in the fate of his aide-de-camp. 

Such displays of indifference as these, far from elevating 
the Emperor in the eyes of the people, can only do him 
injury, since it gives them the impression that he is entirely 
heartless and altosfether cruel and lacking- in humane senti- 
ments. 

Among his numerous manifestations of animosity — many 
of them very childish — towards everything French, I may 
mention his prohibition of the use of the word "cigar," which 
has incurred Imperial displeasure by reason of its Gallic 
origin. At the Berlin Court, by order of the young Monarch, 
the fragrant weed is know^n by the excruciatingly Teutonic 
word of " Glimmstenofel." 

So strong is his hatred of everything French that it led 
him some time since to give orders to the effect that every 
menu for Court dinners should be printed in German; a 
most remarkable innovation, for the use of French is universal 
throughout Europe, not only for diplomatic negotiations but 
also for everything relating to the cuisine and the table. 
Indeed everywhere save now at Berlin the menus of dinners 
are always written in French. Very indigestible sounds the 



340 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



following menu of a State banquet at Potsdam, which was 
sent to me as a sample by a cousin of mine who happened to 
be on a visit to the Prussian Court. 



SPEISE KARTE. 



Englische Austern. St. Peray, 

Fruhlingssuppe. Port. 

Gebackene Seezungen. Latour de Mons, 1880. 

Prager Schinken in Rothwein gedampft. Erdener, 1881. 

Lammbraten mit Endivieiigemuse. Steinberger Cabinet, 1882. 

Schnitzel von Reh mit Truffeln. 

Warmer Hummer mit Butter. Chateau Lafitte, 18S0. 

Romischer Punsch. 

Franzosischer Huhnerbraten, salat. Cliquot Ponsardin. 

Stangen spargel. Chateau Latour, 1868. 

Bleichsellerie. 

Gesottene Fruchte. Muscat. 

Wein Gelee, Kaesestangen mit Brotchen, Gefrorenes. 

Nachtisch. 

The Emperor, however, if he wished to remain consistent, 
should manifestly have omitted the "Franzosischer Huhner- 
braten" (French chicken roast), and would have shown more 
real and well-placed patriotism had he tabooed French vintages 
and served in their stead to his distinguished guests the 
great national beverage, namely, beer, lightened, if absolutely 
necessary, by copious drafts of grape juice from the vineyards 
of the great free Rhine region. The trouble is, however, 
that the young Monarch is very partial to choice brands, and 
that, self-sacrifice not being much in his line, he prefers to 
overlook this part of the affair. So fond is the Emperor of a 
glass of genuinely good and mellow wine that the Imperial 
cellars, which by the by are in the charge of an American, of 
the name of Tim Wiegand, are perhaps the best kept in 
Europe. They are built under the Imperial Palace at Berlin, 
Unter den Linden, and are in the form of the letter L, the 



^iy)H i m i . M l , ^ , i, .„^ 



'' r"\" 



k 



-a: ■•■ 

1 



The Old Kaiser. 



342 



WITHIN ROVAL PALACES. 



short arm being directly under that part of the Palace front- 
ing on the new Vegas fountain, and where the Imperial family 
lives during the winter months. They cover a space of three 
hundred and fifty feet and have low ceilings, but are well 
ventilated, although without windows or other openings in the 
long stretch of walls. Light is provided by gas jets hanging 
from the inner roof at intervals of ten feet. 

They contain an alarming quantity of casks and bottles, with 
wines from all countries and hemispheres, some of them of 
incalculable value, and well worthy of being placed on the 
tables of the richest gourmet of the age. There are mountains 
of bottled " Steinberger Cabinet," the original price of which 
was forty marks a bottle, and which could not be duplicated 
nowadays if the cellars of all the connoisseurs in Europe 
were ransacked. 

In a choice corner is a kind of cage, or rack, in which rest 
several rows of dusty flagons labelled thus : " Presented by 
H. M. Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria to H. M. King 
William I. of Prussia." This may perhaps be regarded as 
the greatest treasure in the Imperial cellars, for genuine 
Tokay is almost priceless and cannot be obtained in the 
market. 

Tokay is situated at the junction of the Bodrog and the 
Theiss, or Tisza, the mighty river which, 200 miles farther 
down, throws itself into the Danube, a little above Belgrade. 
A spur of the Carpathians, the Hegyalla mountains, rise to 
the north of the stream, and it is on this volcanic group that 
there are still here and there a few vineyards, which yield the 
nectar known to all gourmets as Tokay. Every wine mer- 
chant's list contains the name, but, sad to relate, no wine 
merchants can possibly supply their most cherished customers 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 343 

with genuine Tokay. The produce of these vineyards has 
always been very restricted, and, moreover, it may be said as 
a conckisive reason for the non-existence of the vintage in 
the market that the only Tokay vineyards now existing are 
owned by the Emperor of Austria and by Prince Windish- 
graetz, who do not sell the produce thereof. The wine sold 
under the name of Tokay is grown in the region of Nismes, 
France, whither larg-e numbers of Huncrarian vines were lono- 
ago transplanted. In Vienna it is sometimes possible for the 
public to obtain a bottle of the finest Imperial Tokay ; and 
this is owing to a lordly custom of the Austrian Court, 
according to which nothing that is served at their Majesties' 
table for a State dinner is ever permitted to appear a second 
time. Uncorked botdes of Tokay thus become the per- 
quisites of Court servants, who sell them almost for their 
weio-ht in crold to amateurs aware of this custom. 

The Tokay which Emperor Francis Joseph sent to Queen 
Victoria as a jubilee present was of the rare variety known 
as " Mezesniale " or " Honey Beans." This is produced only 
in Tarczal, near Tokay. To manufacture this particular brand 
the grapes are never gathered until fully ripe, and are put 
into a cask without any artificial pressure being applied; the 
juice extracted from sun-dried grapes is then added, and the 
mixture becomes really essence of Tokay. " Mezesmale " is 
owned altogether by the Emperor, and even Prince Windish- 
graetz's vineyards can offer nothing to compare with this won- 
drous nectar, which is served at the Court of Vienna in tiny 
glasses hardly bigger than a thimble, and whose bouquet of 
perfume is so powerful that a single one of these diminutive 
glasses is sufficient to fill a room with a penetrating odor of 
extreme sweetness. 



344 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

In Emperor William's cellars are also to be found wines 
and liquors presented to himself and to his grandfather by 
many other brother Sovereigns, including the Shah of Persia, 
who recently sent his German "Cousin" several cases of 
golden-hued Teheran wine. 




THE emperor's BED-CHAMBER. 



In a sort of side wing to the Bordeaux cellar the Rhine and 
Moselle wines of the royal house are stored in the wood. 
There are only three large barrels, labelled, respectively, 
"60,000 marks," "50,000 marks," and "45,000 marks," 
which indicate the prices paid for them. As to Champagne 
there are literally thousands of rows of these silver-capped 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



345 



bottles, which involuntarily remind one of the Prussian infantry 
soldier when wearing his " picklehaube." 

The Imperial table is also a subject of much thought to the 
Chief of the House of Hohenzollern, for the Emperor is 
something of a gourmet, and particularly relishes gas- 
tronomical curiosities. Sterlets from the Volga, eels from 
the Tiber, grouse from Scotland, bustards from Sweden, 
bears' paws from the Black Forest, turnips from Teltow, 
and melons imported from Greece are to be seen on the 
Emperor's table, while his favorite dessert is a Russian 
macedoine of iced fruit and fresh violets in a syrup of sweet 
marasquino. 

At a dinner given by him at which I was present previous 
to his ascension to the throne, the floral decorations were re- 
placed by a complete orchard of miniature fruit trees covered 
with luscious fruit. The centre of the long table had been 
covered with selaginelle moss, in which the pots containing 
the trees were imbedded. The centre-piece was a small 
peach tree, bearing a few superb specimens of the delicious 
peche de Mareuil, known and appreciated by all gourmets. 
Around this was a row of lady-apple trees in full fruit, and 
the group was finished off, first by a low cordon of grape- 
covered vines, and then by a border of strawberry plants, 
whereon strawberries as big as plovers' eggs gleamed like 
huge rubies. None of the little fruit-trees was more than a 
foot high, and the effect produced by this litde orchard, where- 
from at the end of the dinner everybody was able to pluck 
his or her dessert, was indescribable. 

In more respects than table luxuries is His Majesty ex- 
travagant in his tastes, and his civil-list is therefore in a 
perpetual and chronic state of deficit. As King of Prussia 



346 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



the Emperor receives 16,000,000 marks (^4,000,000), and the 
sum at his disposal as ruler of the Empire is much more 
modest. His annual expenses, however, are reckoned as 
close upon 25,000,000 marks ($6,250,000). 

Like the late Kino^ Ludwio- of Bavaria he is fond of 
building new castles and of spending vast sums of money 




THE SUMMER RESIDENCE OF THE EMPEROR. 



in repairing old ones. Aside from the prospective expen- 
ditures upon the Emperor's new estate in the Reichsland and 
the cost of importing log houses and the like from Norway, 
the Emperor is having the residence at Coblentz and the 
castle on the Stolzenfels repaired and elaborately im- 
proved. 

Even the Empress's dresses are selected, nay, often de- 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



347 



signed, by this restless young Monarch, who seems to be un- 
able to refrain from meddling with everything and everybody. 
I must, however, acknowledge that on one occasion I was 
compelled to admire the exquisite taste which he had displayed 
in a fancy costume which he had caused to be made from his 
minute directions for his wife, and which the latter wore at a 
ball in Potsdam some time after her marriacre. It was meant 
to represent a " Sea-Spirit," and was composed of a rather 
short skirt of shimmering pale-green satin, shot with evanes- 
cent pink, on which were painted by hand delicate shells, 
sea-weeds, star-fishes and sea-anemones. Soft crepe of a 
greenish hue, slightly powdered with silver, was draped over 
this in such a manner that the painting was seen through a 
kind of hazy mist. The corsage, of foamy white lace, was 
encrusted with real sea-shells in every shade of pink, white, 
and pale yellow, and had epaulettes made of tiny mussels and 
oyster shells, some of which were half open and revealed 
clusters of pearls. From the left shoulder a net of silver 
meshes was draped and fell gracefully over the back, the net 
glittering with gold and silver fishes caught by the fins, with 
here and there a coral prawn or a tiny little green or brown 
crab sharinof their fate. A orreat ovster-shell of diamonds in 
the powdered hair, with one huge pearl in the middle, and 
ropes of pearls around the neck and wrists, completed this 
dainty costume. The stockings and shoes were of pale-green 
silk. 

The new Crown jewels have cost a fabulous amount and 
were manufactured by order of Emperor William after his 
accession to the Throne. The Prussian Crown of the Em- 
peror is composed of a broad frontal of gold, studded with 
large diamonds, eight diamond hoops rising from rosettes set 



k8 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



with four diamonds, the whole being surmounted by a bril- 
liant diamond cross. The Prussian diadem of the Empress 
is a magnificent specimen of jewelry, in the shape of a scroll- 
work wreath, studded with diamonds, from which magnificent 
pearls are suspended. 

Among the more recent purchases of the Emperor are a 
diadem of rubies, sapphires, and pearls, in the form of a broad 





DIADEM OF THE EMPRESS. 



braid of exquisite workmanship, and which cost a king's ran- 
som. It is accompanied by a belt, a collar, and a pendant 
matching it. He presented this magnificent parure last New 
Year's day to his wife. 

Apropos of New Year's day I may mention that the last 
night in the year is always an occasion for revelry of a kind 
that partakes of the nature of very rough horse play in the 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



349 



Streets of Berlin, and the police, knowing that their efforts 
would be fruitless, make no attempt to check it. 

According to an unwritten law, any one who ventures into 
the streets with a tall hat on his head that night is bound to 
have it driven down over his ears and crushed flat by means 
of a blow with the fist or flat of the hand. 

No one was wont to enter with more zest into this peculiar 




THE EMPERORS CROWN. 



species of amusement than the Emperor, who, on one occa- 
sion, however, got his hand severely damaged in " bonneting " 
an old gentleman. The latter, blessed with a hard head and 
imaginative disposition, had fixed inside his hat a flat piece 
of wood with a number of long sharp spikes set into it and 
pointing upward. 

The' consequence was that when Prince William, as he was 



150 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



then; brought down his hand with all his might upon the hat 
he was severely injured by the spikes. 

The old gentleman had to pay dearly however for his little 
joke ; for he was sentenced, by the police magistrate before 
whom he was hauled up, to three months' imprisonment and 
a fine for maiming a citizen of Berlin by his contrivance, and 
was congratulated by his friends on having narrowly escaped 
a charge of high treason in committing the crime of " mayhem" 
on the person of the Heir to the Throne. 

The favorite sport of the Emperor William and of the House 
of Hohenzollern is wild boar hunting. This species of game 
abounds in the Imperial preserves of Koenigs-Wusterhausen, 
of Letzlingen, of Goehrde, and of Springe, the latter quite 
near to the ancient city of Hamelin, celebrated in legendary 
lore for its "pied piper" and for its rats. The preserves of 
Goehrde are, however, those most affected by the young 
Monarch, as they were also by his grandfather, the late Em- 
peror William. Persons invited for the first time to these 
Imperial shooting parties have to go through a regular form 
of initiation, somewhat akin to that practised in the case of 
people " crossing the line " for the first time at sea. On the 
evening before the day on which the hunt is to begin, and 
when the party are assembled in the smoking and card-rooms 
of the Jagdschloss after dinner, the great oak table in the 
dining-room is cleared and ornamented with several lines of 
chalk. The Grand Huntsman, von Kotze, or his deputy, 
Count Falkenstein, thereupon, after receiving the Emperor's 
final instructions, selects a dozen members of the party and 
conducts them to the dining-room, where they take up their 
places around the table, each armed with a wooden spoon of 
a different size. At a given signal the huntsman in charge 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 35 1 

of the Imperial pack of blood-hounds, who has been stationed 
at the entrance leadino^ into the dinino-room, sounds the view 
halloo on his horn, and immediately every one of the wooden 
spoons is rubbed up and down the oaken table in a manner 
that produces a sound similar to the noise made by a pack 
in full pursuit. The person about to be initiated is then seized 
and blindfolded, after which the doors are thrown open and 
he is carried into the dining-room and laid upon the table 
athwart the chalk lines, - The Emperor draws his short hunt- 
ing-knife, and after making several mystic passes with it in 
the air, strikes the prostrate body of the neophyte a smart 
blow with the flat of the broad blade. The huntsman toots 
forth the signal of " dead, dead," which is used to call the 
pack off the quarry, and the new-fledged "waidmann" is per- 
mitted to struggle off the table and on to the ground. I may 
add that the Emperor's blow with the hunting-knife is not the 
only one which the neophyte receives while stretched on the 
table, nor does it constitute the sum total of the initiation, but 
only the conclusion thereof Indeed, there is sometimes a 
good deal of rough play on these occasions, in which the Em- 
peror, who delights therein, takes a prominent part. 

The boar-hunts on the following day partake of the nature 
of the chamois drives described in the Austrian chapter of 
this work, the only difference being that the drivers, or " trei- 
bers," are assisted in their work by a carefully trained pack 
of boar-hounds, which are accustomed to obey the horn 
sio^nals of the huntsman in charge, and are of much service 
in driving the quarry from its lair in the dense brush and 
underwood. Another difference is that the shooting party, 
instead of firing in the direction of the drivers, are under 
strict orders to fire away from them. That is, one is practi- 



352 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



cally forced to wait until the wild-boar rushes past before 
one's rifle may be leveled. Of course it sometimes happens 
that the boar, instead of charging- past, charges directly at 
one, in the most fierce and aggressive manner, and it is for 
the sake of being prepared for an assault of this kind that 
each member of the party is provided with a kind of pike or 
lance, which goes by the euphonious name of a " sowpen." 






THE emperor's HUNTING LODGE AT HUBERTUSSTOCK. 

The costume worn on these occasions is an exceptionally 
hideous uniform, speciall)^ invented and devised by the present 
Emperor. It consists of a double-breasted frock coat of gray 
cloth, with grass-green lapels and collar, green striped panta- 
loons, with high boots, and a gray Tyrolese hat with a wide 
green band. Any person who ventures to assert that the 
Emperor looks well therein is guilty of a reckless disregard 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 353 

for the truth and of the basest flattery. For the gray coat 
and hat, and especially the green facings, cuffs, collar, and hat 
band, only serve to intensify the bilious tint of the Emperor's 
complexion. 

It has become a subject of comment at Berlin that on these 
shooting expeditions the Emperor is seldom, if ever, accom- 
panied by his only brother, Henry. The reason for this is 
not far to seek. For the sailor-Prince of Prussia is known 
throughout the length and breadth of Europe as a most dan- 
gerous and consequently undesirable guest at any shooting 
party. Whether it is due to lack of skill, or to carelessness, 
or merely to sheer ill luck, I am unable to say ; the fact re- 
mains that many accidents have marred the pleasure of the 
shooting parties which he has attended. Only a year or so 
ago, while taking part in a shooting expedition on the Island 
of Corfu, he stumbled and sustained a heavy fall, which not 
only injured him pretty severely, but in addition caused the 
accidental discharge of both barrels of his gun, dangerously 
wounding a Greek gentleman who was accompanying the 
Royal party. Some time previously he had a similar misfor- 
tune while out buck-shooting near Baden-Baden. On that 
occasion he accidentally shot one of the game-keepers of his 
uncle, the Reigning Grand Duke of Baden. The man lay in 
a critical condition for several days, but eventually recovered. 
His wound, however, incapacitated him from further service, 
and he is to this day in receipt of a handsome pension both 
from the Grand Duke and from the Prince. It was the latter, 
too, if I am not mistaken, who caused such a universal look 
of horror at a dinner at Balmoral, by his reply to an inquiry 
on the part of the Queen as to what sport he had had while 
out deer-stalking that day: 
23 



354 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



"I haven't killed anything," he cheerily exclaimed; "but 
the gillies tell me that I have succeeded in wounding three 
stags." 

His royal grandmother's face immediately assumed its most 
stern and- forbidding expression. A horrified silence ensued, 
and then every one commenced to talk of something else, as 
if anxious to relieve their pent-up feelings. Not another 
word was exchanged on the subject of the Prince's achieve- 
ments with his rifle — at any rate at table — but the Queen 
took care that there should be no more deer-stalking at Bal- 
moral for Prince Henry. 

Hiibertiisstock, where the Emperor William recently spent 
some time to recover from an attack of his terrible malady, is 
situated in the province of Brandenburg, ten to twelve miles 
from Berlin. The buildings w^ere erected only about thirty 
years ago in the Swiss chalet style. The front side of the 
Royal pavilion is ornamented above the balcony, which runs 
around the building, with trophies of the chase, some splen- 
did antlers and stasis' heads among-st them. The interior can 
accommodate about thirty guests, and most of the Crowned 
Heads and Royal Princes were at one time or another in- 
vited to Hiibertiisstock to take part in the hunting parties 
for which the place was famous, especially in the lifetime of 
the old Emperor William. In the surrounding pine and birch 
forests red deer abound and are strictly preserved. The 
spot is, however, awfully sad and dreary, and seems to recall 
memories of the fact that it was used for some time as the 
residence of the Emperor's insane granduncle, the King 
Frederick William IV. of Prussia. 

One of the most curious thino^s imag-inable is to see Em- 
peror William dancing. He dances much in the same man- 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 355 

ner as he marches, stiff and unbending as a ramrod. In 
fact, his waltzing reminds one of a military manoeuvre, while 
the vigorous exactitude and discipline which he displays dur- 
ing a square dance can only be compared to the movements 
of the troops on parade. Like his uncle, the Prince of 
Wales, and, in fact, all other members of his family, he dances 
very fast, carrying everything before him, and, without mak- 
ing any attempt to pilot his partner, expects everybody to 
clear out of his way. 

I remember on one occasion dancing with him, shortly be- 
fore he ascended the Throne, and the manner in which he 
seized hold of me gave me the impression that I was an 
army in the act of being mobilized. None of the princes re- 
lated to him dance well. His brother has none of the terpsi- 
chorean skill which we ordinarily find among naval officers. 
The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen renders dancing a torture to 
his partners by his inconvenient habit of treading on their 
toes, while the Prince of Wales dances not for pleasure, but 
for the sake of exercise- In my hearing he once openly ad- 
mitted that he waltzed with the object of keeping down his 
figure by maintaining a healthy state — let me say it sub rosa 
— of perspiration. 

Unbending and even arrogant as the German Emperor ap- 
pears to most of those who are brought in contact with him, 
there is one personage in Europe to whom he pays the most 
touching and filial deference, namely, old King Christian of 
Denmark. Since his accession to the Throne William has 
done everything that lay in his power to induce the Court of 
Copenhagen to forget the cruel war of 1864 and to obliterate 
the bitterness which resulted therefrom among the gallant 
Danes. His first visit after the death of his father was to 



356 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

King Christian, on whom he called at Copenhagen before 
proceeding either to Russia or to Austria or Italy; and al- 
though his first reception in the Danish capital can scarcely 
have been a pleasant one, since he was received with groans 
and hisses, yet he has frequently returned there since and 
appears to take a particular pleasure in showering every con- 
ceivable kind of attention upon the old King. 

This sympathy which, if official rumors are to be believed, 
may yet lead to a restoration by Germany of the Danish- 
speaking portion of Schleswig-Holstein to Denmark, first 
originated some twelve years ago at the Castle of Rumpen- 
heim, in Hesse, where festivities were taking place in honor 
of a visit of the old Emperor. Young William was but 
twenty years old at the time, and, as he was exceedingly ex- 
uberant, boisterous and forward, there was a universal ten- 
dency upon the part of the Imperial and Royal guests present 
to repress and even to ignore him. One alone, namely. King 
Christian of Denmark, was polite enough to show him any 
attention or affection, and during the entire period of the visit 
the old King and the young prince were inseparable. Chris- 
tian made no secret of his opinion that William was mis- 
judged and that he was destined to make a great name for 
himself The Emperor has not forgotten this, and never fails 
on each of his visits to recall the prediction to the memory 
of the venerable old kinof whom, notwithstandinof the absence 
of any relationship, he affectionately addresses as " Uncle." 

Quite as much as the Czar does the Emperor hate the 
Jews. Since the day when he succeeded his father, he has 
made a point of refusing to grant a single commission as 
officer, either in the army or in the navy, to any person of 
the Semitic race, and has declined to grant promotion to those 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



357 



Jews who already happen to hold subaltern rank. The result 
is that they have been nearly all frozen out, and that at 
present there is hardly even a non-commissioned officer of 
Jewish birth to be found on the roster of the Imperial forces. 
He has given much dissatisfaction to a number of his 
subjects, because of the numerous death-warrants which he 




TROIKA PRESENTED TO THE GERMAN EMPEROR BY THE CZAR OF RUSSIA. 

has signed since his accession to the throne, and it is pointed 
out that the severity — far from tending to diminish crimes of 
violence — has merely led to their increase. 

Neither his grandfather, old Emperor William, nor the 
predecessor of the latter, King Frederick William IV., could 
ever be induced to sign death-warrants, hence capital punish- 



35^ WITHIN ROYaL t>ALAC£S. 

ment had for almost half a century become obsolete in 
Prussia. 

The present Emperor, however, shares none of their views 
on the subject, for hardly a week passes by without the heads- 
man being called upon to exercise his profession either in 
Berlin or in the provinces. 

Germany, I may add, is the only civilized country in the 
world where murderers are still beheaded with a sword or a 
broad-bladed axe. 

The Emperor is accused by his subjects in this and in 
other regards of being very cold-hearted indeed, and an 
exceedingly painful impression was created at Berlin by the 
sale, almost immediately after his father's death, of the pony 
carriag-e which the latter used durino- the few weeks imme- 
diately preceding this sad event for his drives in the palace 
gardens. It was purchased by a joiner, who uses it in his 
trade, and it is frequently seen in the streets of Potsdam 
heavily laden with window sashes, etc. ; while on Sundays 
and holidays the seat once occupied by the ill-fated Emperor 
Frederick is filled by the Herr Tischlermeister and his vulgar- 
looking- frau. 

Another thing. which greatly shocked the people is the 
action of the Emperor in forbidding the continuance of the 
use of the name Friedrichskron for the Imperial residence at 
Potsdam. The palace in question had been the summer resi- 
dence of Kaiser Friedrich throughout the thirty years or 
more of his married life, and may be said to be of his creation. 
It was his favorite home, and as soon as he ascended the 
throne he, in deference to the wishes of his wife, transformed 
its name from the Neues-Palais to Friedrichskron. In his 
anxiety to efface all trace of his noble-hearted father's reign 




The Four Generations. 



360 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Kaiser Wilhelm restored the old name, and dates all his 
decrees, general orders, and letters from the Neues-Palais. 

The first state visit of the Emperor to London will remain 
on record as one of the great historical events of the long 
and glorious reign of Queen Victoria. Independently of all 
political and social considerations, it is of interest as having 
been the first visit in state of a German Emperor since close 
upon four hundred years ago. The last previous occasion 
on which a German Emperor set foot on English soil was 
when, in 1519, Charles V. crossed over the channel from 
Antwerp, and landed near Folkestone, for the purpose of 
calling upon his uncle, King Henry VIII. 

No more striking demonstration of the onward march of 
enlightenment and civilization can be obtained than from a 
comparison of the published accounts of William's reception 
on that occasion with those of Emperor Charles V. The 
former was escorted up the Thames by swift torpedo-boats, 
was saluted by the deafening discharges of 100- ton guns, and 
was welcomed on board his splendidly appointed steam-yacht 
by his very fin de siecle uncle, the Prince of Wales; 
whereas Charles V., the mightiest Monarch of the Middle 
Ages, was received on his huge slave-propelled galley by Car- 
dinal Wolsey, who brought him ashore near Folkestone in a 
gilded barge amidst salutes fired from 6-pound guns, and 
escorted him to Dover Castle, where the Emperor was wel- 
comed by his uncle. King Henry VIII. The aim of Charles 's 
visit, like that of the Emperor William, was to win Great 
Britain over into a coalition against France, and the marks 
of favor and consideration bestowed, with this object in view, 
by the German Kaiser of the sixteenth -century upon King 
Henry's all-powerful minister. Cardinal Wolsey, found their 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 361 

counterpart in the analogous and similarly interested demon- 
strations of good will on the part of the young German 
Kaiser of to-day towards Queen Victoria's minister, the 
Marquis of Salisbury. 

Probably the most successful and notable feature of that 
memorable visit of Emperor William was his triumphal prog- 
ress through the city of London to the Guildhall, No 
German Emperor had passed within the boundary of the 
Temple Bar since 141 6, when Kaiser Sigismund visited the 
city while staying with King Henry V., the " Prince Hal " of 
Shakespeare ; and it may be safely asserted that no foreign 
potentate, nor yet any statesman, ever received such a tribute 
of respect, deference, and one might almost add servility, 
from this the greatest commercial centre of the world, as did 
Emperor William. Extraordinary and yet comprehensible 
was the anxiety with which these great city magnates — the 
moving spirits of the trade of the universe — scanned the 
features of the young monarch, and strained their ears to 
catch every word that fell from his lips. For they realized 
full well that the maintenance of peace is indispensable to 
commercial prosperity, and that war means ruin to many if 
not to most of them. They knew, too, that Emperor Wil- 
liam, impulsive, quick-tempered, and headstrong, is practically 
the autocrat of a powerful nation of 40,000,000 Germans, 
besides being the absolute and irresponsible master of an 
army of 3.000,000 men, admittedly the most powerful military 
force on the face of the globe. It is upon the caprice and 
whim of this young German Emperor, who declares himself 
answerable for his actions, not to the people or to the world, 
but to God alone, that depends the maintenance of European 
peace. He has it in his power either to assume the latter, or 



362 WITHIN ROVAL PALACES. 

to involve the Old World in all the horrors of war. Under 
the circumstances it is not surprising that the City Fathers 
of London should have been eager to propitiate and to earn 
the good will of a monarch who, with the power of peace and 
war vested in his hands, is able to control the continuance or 
decline of their commercial prosperity. 

It is fortunate that the Emperor's stay on that occasion in 
England did not extend beyond a week, for the admiration 
and astonishment created among the steady and easy-going 
Britons by the restless activity of their Imperial guest were 
on the point of giving way to a feeling of intense weariness, 
when he took his departure. Perpetually on the go during 
twenty hours out of every twenty-four, he literally did not 
give his entertainers a moment's rest, and left them practically 
panting for breath when he bade them adieu. While the 
impression which he created in England appears to have 
been excellent, it was tempered by a sentiment of relief that 
he occupies the German and not the English Throne. The 
Britons admitted that he is a man of action, full of vitality, 
and neither slothful, self-indulgent, nor obtuse ; but they pre- 
ferred their own roi-faineant, so perfectly and admirably 
exemplified by their constitutional sovereign. The German 
Emperor's visit had the effect of increasing their loyalty 
towards their own Monarchy. Having enjoyed the opportu- 
nity of obtaining an insight into the characteristics of the rest- 
less German King-Stork, they came to the conclusion that 
they infinitely preferred their own inactive Queen-Log. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

OF 

GERMANY. 

II. 

I^HE marriage of the Emperor William, which took p/ace 
in February, 1881, was one of the most magnificent 
ceremonies of that kind which I ever witnessed. The public 
entry of the bride into Berlin was a very gorgeous pageant, 
for the greatest desire was shown to receive her enthusiasti- 
cally. On the occasion of the popular reception, many 
thousands of people lined the thoroughfares leading from 
Bellevue to the Castle, and all the available places, including 
the tops of the houses, were thronged. "Unter den Linden'' 
formed the chief attraction, being literally transformed into a 
via-trmmpJias. The bride, whose graceful appearance charmed 
the people, entered Berlin in the late Queen Louisa's wed- 
ding-coach, the Crown Princess being at her side. The public 
enthusiasm surpassed all bounds, and the loudest hurrahs 
accompanied the Royal procession through the city. On 
arriving at the Castle, the procession was received by their 
Majesties and all the members of the Royal Family, attended 
by the Court. Prince Wilhelm having personally led his 
company of Grenadier Guards into the capital in their place 
in the procession, it mounted guard before the Castle. 

The meedng of His Royal Highness with his bride was 
really touching. The Emperor showed his satisfaction with 

his grandson by appointing him major, and embracing him 

(363) 



3^4 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



before all the assembly. In the evening, all Berlin was aglow 
with splendid illuminations, which extended even to the poor- 
est quarters, and the public crowded the streets till long after 
midnight. 

The wedding ceremony was witnessed by a distinguished 
company who had assembled in the Chapel of the Castle. 
All the celebrities of rank and science were present. Count 
von Moltke was conspicuous, but Prince Bismarck was absent. 
The appearance of the chapel, which was beautifully decorated, 
was most impressive. The choir chanted Mendelssohn's 
" How Lovely are the Messengers of Peace," when the bride, 
who was beautifully dressed, and escorted by the bridegroom 
in gala-uniform, entered. The Emperor, who looked remark- 
ably hale and hearty, despite his advanced years, led the 
Queen of Saxony and the Duchess of Augustenburg. the 
bride's mother, into the sacred edifice. The Prince of Wales, 
who wore a British Field-Marshal's uniform, conducted the 
Empress, and the Duke of Edinburgh, attired in the uniform 
of a Prussian Major-General, escorted Princess Albrecht. 
The German Crown Princess walked between the Crown 
Prince of Sweden and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, 
and the German Crown Prince, between the Grand Duchess 
of Baden, his sister, and Princess Christian — each royal trio 
being attended by their ladies and gentlemen-in-waiting. 
The late Duke of Aosta, the Grand Duke Alexis, and a host 
of other Royal personages, took part in the bridal procession, 
which, surrounded as it was by Court dignitaries, royal pages 
and chamberlains, looked magnificent. 

The Princess was dressed in white damask, with a veil cov- 
ering her from head to foot. Over the myrtle in her hair she 
wore the diamond and jewelled Crown which Prussian 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



365 



Princesses have donned on the occasion of their weddino- for 
centuries past. Upon her neck were the grand Hohenzollern 
diamonds that have Kkewise done service on many a previous 
occasion of the kind ; and as she walked demurely beside her 
chosen husband, a slight blush suffused her attractive coun- 
tenance. Prince William, in the uniform of a Major in the 
First Foot Guards, walked erect to the Holy Table. Behind 
them appeared the four bridesmaids, Countess Pauline Kalck- 
reuth. Countess Mathilde Keller, Countess Mathilde Puckler 
and Countess Victoria Bernstoff, carrying the train of the 
bride, and accompanied by Countess Brockdorff, the bride's 
Mistress of the Robes. The Adjutants of Prince William 
attended His Royal Highness. 

As the procession, having traversed the suite of interven- 
ing rooms, approached the palace chapel, the Cathedral choir 
inside intoned a psalm. The chapel, a spacious and lofty 
octagon in the Byzantine polychromatic style, previous to the 
arrival of the royal family, had been filled with the foreign 
diplomatic corps and the highest dignitaries of the realm. 

The bridal couple having placed themselves in front of the 
communion table before their nearest relatives, the Rev. Dr. 
Koegel, then His Majesty's first chaplain in ordinary, deliv- 
ered a brief but emphatic address and exchanged the rings. 
The bride and bridegroom being, asked if their intention was 
to remain true to each other for better or worse, audibly an- 
swered, "Yes." 

Dr. Koegel, in his sermon, reminded the young couple 
that the last occasions on which the chapel had been used 
were the Emperor's golden wedding and Prince Henry's con- 
firmation. He alluded also to the fact that they had received 
Queen Victoria's best wishes, and forcibly dilated upon the 




Emperor William II. and His Family. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



Z^7 



sacredness of marriage. The ceremony was closed with 
Handel's " Hallekijah Chorus." The bride and the bride- 
groom as well appeared much affected. As they left the 
altar they were kissed by the mother of the bride, while the 
Emperor and Empress and the Crown Prince and Princess 
looked on with manifest pride. Thirty-six salvos of the 
artillery in the grounds announced to the people the marriage 
of the heir to the German Crown. The Emperor and Em- 
press were visibly delighted at this crowning incident in their 
lives, and displayed the warmest affection for their son and 
daughters, and for the newly-married couple. 

The royal procession having formed again returned to the 
White Hall, the principal apartment of the huge ancestral 
palace. There the Emperor and Empress, the King and 
Queen of Saxony, and the newly-married couple, having 
ranged themselves on the dais, with the royal guests beside 
them, the whole company defiled past, and bowed to the 
royal family. Next ensued the dinner in a suite of adjoining 
rooms. In the Knights' Hall, where the imperial family and 
their royal guests sat down, the Princesses, by virtue of cus- 
toms handed down from the Middle Ages, waited upon the 
Emperor and Empress, the King and the Queen of Saxony, 
and the Prince and Princess William of Prussia. Between 
the first and second courses the Emperor proposed the health 
of his newly-married grandchildren. 

Before ten o'clock the whole party were back in the White 
Hall for the final ceremony of the evening. This was the 
famous "Fackeltanz." The persons of royal rank again 
having disposed themselves on and around the Royal dais, 
twelve Cabinet Ministers, carrying lighted torches, preceded 
by Gold and Silver Stick, stepped up to the bridal pair to the 



368 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



notes of a polonaise. Bowing deferentially, and being bowed 
to, they moved on with the bridal pair behind them. Thus 
they marched round the hall solemnly and silently with 
stately gait. 

On their return to the Throne, the bride, approaching the 
Emperor, courtesied to him deeply, by way of invitation to 
dance, and again the procession made the circuit of the hall, 
this time accompanied by His Majesty. Next the bridegroom 
made the tour of the hall with the Queen of Saxony, and the 
bride with the King of Saxony. In the remaining stages of 
the elaborate dance the Princess performed each of her many 
circuits between two of the Princes present, the young hus- 
band following her with two of the Princesses. All the while 
the Silver Sticks and Cabinet Ministers marched in front, torch 
in hand ; the polonaise resounding from the orchestral gallery. 
A grand monotony prevailed in the apartment. Considering 
the length and breadth of the hall, it was a severe trial for 
the bride. 

The dance over, the twelve Ministers were at length 
relieved of their torches by twelve pages, who lighted the 
newly-married couple to their suite of rooms. 

On the morrow a grand banquet was given in the White 
Hall of the Castle to which the Emperor had especially invited 
all the Court and foreign Princes, and the chief officers of the 
army, the heads of Princely houses, the Knights of the Black 
Eagle, the Vice-President of the Ministry, the Ministers of 
State and of the Household, the senior members of the Fed- 
eral Councils, the Ambassadors, Parliamentary Presidents, 
Privy Councillors, and others. 

The dinner table, which presented a very splendid and 
sumptuous appearance, was attended by pages in scarlet 



The imperial family of Germany. 



369 



uniform — all youths of gentle birth, from the cadet schools — with 
rapier at side, and plumed cavalier hats depending from their 
shoulders by a silken cord. The Emperor and Empress, 
under the Throne-canopy, occupied the centre of the table, 
which ran round the four sides of the capacious hall, with 
another board in the centre, the bride and bridegroom, flanked 




THE emperor's standard. 

by the Crown-Prince and Princess respectively, being oppo- 
site their Majesties. The Prince of Wales sat between Prin- 
cess Frederick Charles on the right and the Grand Duchess 
of Baden on the left. The banquet being well advanced the 
Emperor rose, and, to the accompaniment of the National 
Anthem, silently drank to the happiness of his w^edded grand- 
children, bowing to them and to his illustrious guests. 

34 



A^Q WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Later in the evening a magnificent spectacle was presented 
in the Opera House, when Quinault's heroic Armide, in four 
acts, was most effectively given as a gala performance before 
all the rank, wisdom, valour, beauty, and fashion assembled 
in Berlin. Entry being only attainable by special invitation 
from the manager-general of the Royal theatres, the audience 
was most select, and there was a display of uniforms and ball- 
room costumes of unparalleled splendor. 

Quinault's opera was staged regardless of expense, and was 
well acted ; but, though worthy of being closely followed, it 
was not the opera the Berliners had come to see, but the 
Prince and Princess. On their Royal Highnesses, with the 
Court, entering the grand box opposite the stage, the band 
broke forth with the National Anthem, and the whole house 
rising, cheered the Royal pair, who acknowledged the com- 
pliment with repeated bows and then sat down between their 
Majesties in the very centre of the house. At the close of 
the performance the audience again cheered. On the drop 
scene was a painted representation, of the castle where the 
Princess was born, and of the two palaces or mansions 
appointed as her summer and winter residences in Potsdam. 

Augusta Victoria, Princess of Schleswig-Holstein, Empress 
of Germany, is still a very handsome woman, in spite of her 
being the mother of seven children, the last of which is now only 
a little over a month old. The advent of the sixth boy was 
hailed with much joy, not only by the Imperial Family, but 
also by the Berliners, for he was the first child of the Emperor 
who was born in the Capital, all the others having made their 
debut into this world at Potsdam, and both the Court and the 
people ascribed extraordinary importance to the fact that the 
little fellow was a thorough " Berliner kind." The christening, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



37^ 



therefore, was observed as a popular festival throughout the 
Prussian Kingdom, and especially on the banks of the Spree, 
Banquets and various other kinds of public rejoicing took 
place everywhere, and both the Government and the people 
seemed determined to make the occasion a red-letter day. 
The Emperor himself was so delighted by the birth of his 
sixth boy — an event which he described merely as the com- 
pletion of the first half-dozen — that he decided to solemnize 
the christening by accepting the sponsorship of a number of 
poor children throughout the country who were all baptized 
on the same day as the Imperial infant. 

Besides the gifts which he presented to each of his new 
godchildren, both the Empress and himself arranged for the 
distribution of clothing and other kinds of useful pres- 
ents to several thousands of poor children. The distribudon 
was made in the name of the baby Prince, so as to secure 
for him, even at the commencement of his life, the good-will 
of his father's subjects, great and small. With the same 
object in view a large number of inmates of the civil and 
military prisons had their sentences remitted in part or alto- 
gether, while promotions in both the civil and military ser-' 
vice took place on a perfectly wholesale scale. 

Following the example of his grandmother. Queen Victoria, 
who invited the great Duke of Wellington to become god- 
father to her son Arthur, the present Duke of Connaught, 
William II., paid to Field-Marshal von Moltke the flattering 
compliment of requesting him to officiate as sponsor to the 
new-born Prince. The venerable old soldier was the only 
personage standing beside the font who was not of imperial 
or royal blood. The other godparents of the infant were 
the Queen Regent of Holland, the King and Queen of Italy, 



37^ 



Within rOyal palaces. 



the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Duke and 
Duchess of Connaught, the Duke and Duchess of 
Sparta, and Princess Marguerite of Prussia. The Crown 
Prince and Crown Princess of Greece, tlie widowed Queen 
of the Netherlands and the royal couple of Italy were repre- 
sented by proxies, but all the others were there in person. 

The English Princes were arrayed in their German uni- 
forms, while Emperor William, as is his custom on such occa- 
sions, wore the gala uniform of a general of division, the 
large silver epaulettes of which make him always look much 
more than usually broad-shouldered. 

The ceremony was performed in the chapel of the palace 
by Court Chaplain Drysander. The font consisted of a 
superb silver-gilt bowl, standing on a pillar of malachite, and 
the water used was that of the river Jordan. Sealed bottles 
of the latter are always kept on hand, and no other kind of 
water is ever employed for the baptism of Princes of the 
House of Prussia. The baby was enveloped in the same 
magnificent lace robe which has been worn by all Empress 
Frederick's children and grandchildren when they were being 
christened. The arms of Prussia are worked into the fabric 
of the robe, which was presented to "Unser Fritz" and his 
wife by the city of Berlin at the time of the birth of her son, 
the present Emperor. The royal infant remained in the arms 
of the Countess von Brockendorff, Grand Mistress of the 
Robes to the Empress, until the time came for making the 
sign of the cross, when the youngest of the sponsors, 
namely. Princess Marguerite, the Emperor's sister, took it 
from the Countess and handed it to the officiating minister. 

With the exception of the Empress, for whom a chair of 
State had been prepared near the font, everybody remained 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. oyo 

Standing throughout the ceremony, which is very short, last- 
ing barely more than twenty minutes. Prominent among 
those present, and in the immediate neighborhood of the 
Emperor's little sons, with whom he is a great favorite, was 
the white-haired and quaint-faced Prince Alexander. He is 
exceedingly simple-minded, and many are the anecdotes told 
about his almost childish innocence. During the war of 1866 
he insisted on accompanying the Emperor's staff throughout 
the campaign. On the morning of the battle of Sadowa he, 
however, suddenly disappeared, and it was not until darkness 
had long set in that the members of the staff were at liberty 
to search for the missing prince, who holds the honorary rank 
of general. They spent the livelong night in looking vainly 
for him far and wide, and they had just given up every hope 
of finding him, when they suddenly came upon him in a little 
wood some five miles distant from the battlefield, sitting 
quietly on his horse and gazing placidly at the beautiful 
landscape. 

When questioned by his rescuers, he simply replied that 
his horse, having been frightened by the noise of the battle, 
had bolted with him, and had only stopped at the place where 
he then stood, and where he had patiently remained for the 
twenty-four hours without making any attempt to join the 
German army. This extraordinary display of endurance, far 
from recommending him to the Emperor, was the cause of 
poor Prince Alexander being left behind during the campaign 
of 1870-71, a fact which filled him with distress, as he fondly 
imagines himself to be a great warrior, and more than capa- 
ble of commanding an army corps. This extraordinary scion 
of the house of Hohenzollern is also a great ladies' man, and 
when a member of the fair sex is presented to him he at once 



374 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



proceeds to make her an offer of marriage, neglecting even 
to ascertain whether she is in possession of a living husband 
or not. This sometimes happens six or seven times in the 
course of an evening. Indeed, a woman to whom the Prince 
does not propose must be either peculiarly plain or else of an 
advanced age, for almost all find grace before his indulgent 
eyes. 

After the christening there was a State dinner in the great 
dining-hall, which is the most superbly decorated room in the 
Berlin residence of the Emperor. The ceiling is of unrivaled 
beauty, being composed of carved caissons inclosing paintings 
of the greatest masters. The centre-piece represents the 
German Eagle flying through the clouds, and driving before 
it swarms of birds of prey. All around this canvas are me- 
dallions containing the armorial bearings of all the vassal 
Princes of the Empire. The walls are hung with unique Gobe- 
lins, and the carved-oak sideboards groan beneath their 
load of gold and silver plate, on all State occasions. The 
high mantel-piece, reaching up to the ceiling, is of dark green 
marble, superbly carved and inlaid with precious mosaics, and 
the windows are draped with heavy gold-embroidered crimson- 
velvet curtains. The entire service is of gold, embossed with 
the Imperial arms. 

Beautiful dresses were worn for the ceremony. The Em- 
press was arrayed in a loose gown of soft, white, corded silk, 
covered with priceless lace, and relieved only by the broad 
orange ribbon of the Order of the Black Eagle. Ropes of 
pearls fell on her breast and a tiara of superb diamonds glit- 
tered on her blond hair. Her sister, Princess Frederick 
Leopold, wore a petticoat and train of pink and silver bro- 
cade, edged with pink marabou feathers, the low corsage 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



375 



of cloth of silver literally ablaze with rubies and diamonds. 
Her soft, fair curls were held together on the top of the head 
by a small princess's coronet of diamonds, rubies and pearls. 
The Empress Frederick's dress was of black velvet, the 
sombre hue of which was, however, lighted up by some 
beautiful point d'Alencon. Princess Charlotte, of Saxe- 
Meiningen, the Emperor's eldest sister, looked unusually 
well in the magnificent toilet of lavender brocade, trimmed 
on the bodice, skirt and train with pearl and diamond em- 
broidery, which she had ordered from Paris for the occasion ; 
the train was festooned with old Mechlin lace and laden with 
huge clusters of pink and lilac orchids, glittering with dia- 
mond dewdrops. In the hair diamond stars were scattered 
over a filet of pearls shaped like the tiny caps worn by the 
Venetian ladies in the time of the Doges. The aspect of all 
these ororofeous toilets, toofether with the brilliant uniforms 
of the men, presented a magnificent spectacle, for which 
the splendid halls and state apartments of the palace formed 
a fitting background. 

Little Crown Prince Fritz, who is now ten years old, is a 
promising young gentleman. The Hohenzollerns, as a 
family, are rather slow in developing — slow but sure; and 
there is little to discourage the hope that time may bring out 
all the better and more prominent qualities of his race. He 
is certainly not so tall and probably not quite so vigorous 
and robust as his princely grandfather, Emperor Frederick, 
was at his age ; but still the physical type of his paternal 
ancestors undoubtedly predominates in him. In particular, 
apart from the face, which gready resembles that of his father 
in profile. Prince Fritz has inherited the powerful large hand 
of the Hohenzollerns, which palmistry has sought to connect 



376 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



with their remarkable achievements in the sphere of conquest 
from the days when Conrad fought his way into the favor of 

Kaiser Red-Beard and 
the wardership of N urn- 
berg Castle, until the 
forcible annexation by 
his twenty-third lineal 
descendant, of Hanover, 
Hesse-Cassel, Frank- 
fort, Schleswig-Holstein, 
and Alsace-Lorraine. 

The solemn reception 
of the little Crown 
Prince into the First 
Regiment of the Guards 
took place at Potsdam 
on his tenth birthday. 
The ceremony, in spite 
of the bad weather, was 
a splendid military spec- 
tacle. All the male 
members of the Royal 
House, and all the high- 
est military and civil 
dignitaries had assem- 
bled in the Lustgarten, 
where the First Regi- 
ment of Guards, formed 
THE LITTLE CROWN PRINCE. { u. square, awaltcd its 

new lieutenant. At a given signal the Emperor, surrounded by 
all the Princes, and accompanied by the Grand Duke of Hesse, 




THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. ^-y 

appeared with the Crown Prince on his left. The Emperor 
took up his position in the middle of the square and addressed 
the regiment in a long speech. It was an old custom, he 
said, for the Prussian Princes, on their tenth birthday, to enter 
the army. The Crown Prince was too young to do military 
service, but the day was meant to make him acquainted with 
the rules of discipline and military obedience. He (the Em- 
peror) thought with sadness and gratitude of the day when 
he entered the army under the eyes of his grandfather and 
father. The speech concluded with three cheers for the new 
lieutenant. 

The young Prince then advanced a few steps, and, with 
drawn sword, reported himself to the captain of his company, 
Herr von Pluskow. With him were the two young sons of 
Prince Albert, one of whom is but two years older than the 
Crown Prince. Then came the march-past, and the Emperor 
himself led the regiment by his Imperial Consort, who, with 
her other sons and her sister, the Princess Frederick Leopold, 
witnessed the review from the windows of the castle. The 
attention and interest of all present was, of course, centred 
in the Crown Prince, the little fellow, with his knapsack and 
the historical tin helmet and hiofh boots standing- next to Herr 
von Pluskow, the tallest officer in the whole army. The 
great zeal he showed, the accuracy with which he fulfilled the 
instructions, and his joyous childlike manner pleased every- 
body. It was by no means easy for him to keep pace with 
the giant strides of the Grenadiers. Sometimes he ran and 
sometimes jumped, but he never seemed to get out of step. 
He proudly saluted with his sword his Imperial mother. 
After the review the Emperor introduced his son to the officers 
of the regiment, with vy^hopi he shook hands as their new 



378 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



comrade. At the State dinner the young Crown Prince was 
present for the first time, and sat next to his mother, thus 
occupying the seat due him as Crown Prince. 

For the first time also on his birthday he adopted the style 
and predicate of Royal and Imperial Highness, for until the 
Princes of the reigning House of Prussia attain the age of 
ten no one is permitted to use the prefix of "Royal" or "Im- 
perial" Highness in communicating with them. They must 
be addressed merely as "Prince." Like his father at the 
same age, the boy manifests a very pronounced taste for 
military matters. His whole time is passed in drilling his 
younger brothers, over whom he domineers in a manner that 
is full of promise for the people of Germany when he comes to 
the throne. Already he has mastered most of the intricacies of 
Prussian drill, and his eye, notwithstanding his youth, is quick 
to detect any defect in the appearance of his soldiers. 

An illustration of this sharpness of criticism was afforded 
a short time ago when the Crown Prince was returning with 
his brothers from a drive. The Palace Guard turned out as 
usual on the approach of the Imperial children, As the car- 
riage had driven rather rapidly the men were forced to run 
as fast as they could to assume their places in the ranks, and 
one unfortunate fellow in his haste forgot his rifle. 

This was immediately noticed by the Crown Prince, who, 
when the carriage stopped, instead of entering the palace, 
hurried off with his brothers to the officer in command of the 
Guard, for the purpose of lodging complaint against the 
delinquent private. 

The result was that the soldier was sentenced to four days* 
arrest and to a further term of fatigue duty for his remissness, 
while the Berlin papers were full of laudatory notices of the 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 379 

military feeling and precision of the future Emperor of 
Germany. 

Like all other boys of his age, he is never so happy as when 
in mischief, and innumerable stories are told of his pranks. 
One of the latter created some embarrassment on the part of 
the victim at the time. 

The Emperor was engaged in giving audiences, and the 
little Princes were playing in the anterooms. Among the 
persons received was a solemn dignitary arrayed as required 
by etiquette, in full evening dress. His gibus, or opera 
crush-hat, he left in the anteroom, and while he was with the 
Erriperor the little Princes, who had never seen such a thing 
before, amused themselves by opening it out and closing it 
down. 

Needless to say that they put the mechanism out of order, 
a fact which the owner did not perceive until he had left the 
palace. 

The next to be received was no other than the Emperor's 
old tutor. Prof. Hintzpeter. He, too, left his hat in the ante- 
room. It was not a crush-hat, but a regular high silk " tile " 
of peculiar size and very mature age. 

The little Princes evidently believed that this hat possessed 
the same mechanism as the other, for when the Emperor and 
the professor, attracted by the children's screams of laughter, 
opened the door leading from the audience-chamber into the 
anteroom they found the two eldest boys engaged in vio- 
lently seating their third fat brother on the unlucky hat with 
the aim of squashing it flat, a laudable object in which they 
had just succeeded when interrupted. 

The Crown Prince's tenth birthday likewise meant an in- 
crease of his allowance of pocket money, which hitherto, in 



38o 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



accordance with the traditions of the Prussian Court, was 
very small ; so small, indeed, that last autumn the Prince and 
his little brothers adopted characteristically ingenious methods 
of raising the financial wind. 

Having ascertained that the deer in the palace park at 
Potsdam are fed through the winter months on acorns, which 
are purchased by the head-keeper in the public market for 
the purpose, the litde fellows set to work with their toy carts 
and barrows to collect all the acorns that they could find. 
Their whole playtime was devoted to this work, and as soon 
as ever they had collected a few bushels they would sell 
them to the head-keeper at the ordinary market rate. 

The Crown Prince, too, has a very pert and pretty wit, as 
the following sally of his will show. Being with his father 
one day, the Prince remarked on the extraordinary fondness 
of his sire for changing his uniform, and, with a child's curi-. 
osity, wanted to know why he never wore that of the "Rail- 
way Regiment," belonging to the pioneer detachment of the 
Guards. "Why should I wear that uniform, my son?" re- 
turned the Emperor. "Oh, papa, because thou art always 
traveling about on the railway ! " rejoined the little Prince. 

Young Fritz is a very manly little fellow, already a good 
rider, a neat shot and quite a clever oarsman. Very con- 
scious of the greatness and importance of his position, he 
assumes on official occasions a most dignified bearing. The 
fact is that notwithstanding all the Spartan rigor and severity 
to which royal personages are — according to their biogra- 
phers — subjected in their youth for the purpose of dispell- 
ing any exaggerated pride of birth and station, they nearly 
all of them imagine from the tenderest age that the rights 
and privileges which they enjoy above their fellow-men are 




The Emperor and the Crown Prince 

Taking their Morning Ride. 



3^2 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



of divine origin. Some of them have sufficient tact and 
good sense to conceal these sentiments later in life, and real- 
ize that they are not in keeping with the sentiment of the 
age. Others, on the contrary, do not attempt to disguise 
them, and become in consequence responsible for an accele- 
ration in the growth of democracy on the part of the people 
among whom their lot is cast. 

The existence of this peculiar belief in the semi-divine 
character of their superiority above their fellow-creatures, can 
be readily understood when the peculiar atmosphere in which 
they live is taken into consideration. From their earliest 
youth they are surrounded by chamberlains and equerries of 
noble birth, whose sole duty is to humor their every whim, to 
divine their wishes even before they are expressed, to say 
"yea" to their "yea," and "nay" to their " nay," without 
venturing to have any opinion of their own, and who are sup- 
posed to preserve their Royal and Imperial charges from any- 
thing that can possibly prove offensive or even disagreeable 
to their Highnesses. When to this is added the pomp and 
glory of the military honors which are rendered to them by 
officers and soldiers alike, and the adulation which they 
receive not only from the masses, but from the classes also, 
it becomes only natural that they should end by possessing 
the most exaggerated notions concerning themselves. Even 
their very faults are described as virtues, and their most 
flagrant offences, and even crimes, are described by the ser- 
vile crowds who surround them as mere harmless and amiable 
eccentricities. Nevertheless, I must say here, that the Emperor 
of Germany's children are one and all well-bred and thoroughly 
well cared for by their mother, who spends many hours daily 
in their nurseries and school-rooms. 



tHE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. ^§^ 

The Empress is not what may be termed a brilliant or an 
extraordinarily bright woman, but she is an excellent wife, a 
devoted mother, and her somewhat stiff stateliness of manner 
is softened by great kindness and sweetness to those nearest 
to her. She herself was most carefully brought up by her 
father, who was passionately fond of her, and who personally 
superintended her education. She is tall and elegant, with 
very fair hair, a pink and white complexion, and large express- 
ive blue eyes. Her calm, quiet manners are of a truth a re- 
freshing contrast to her Imperial Consort's turbulent ways, 
and her sensible matter-of-fact fashion of accepting life has 
prevented her from suffering from his often strange and ex- 
travagant vagaries. On the whole, the august couple are 
much attached to one another and live a tolerably happy 
existence together. 

The Empress is honorary Colonel of a regiment of Hussars, 
and looks always uncommonly well when attired in her full 
Regimentals (which include a skirt, I must add), and when 
reviewing her men, mounted on a superb black charger. Her 
newly-created body-guard is intended to do sentry duty at the 
palace, and serve as a mounted escort at reviews. It consists 
of twenty-four privates, two non-commissioned officers, and a 
lieutenant in command. When on horseback, the guard 
wears the white uniform of Curassiers, with cherry-red collar, 
cuffs, and turned-back coat flaps, and a helmet of polished 
steel, crested with the golden eagle. The gala-uniform on palace 
duty consists of a white Bradenburgh coat, with carmine 
facings, and shoulder-knots in black, white and silver, worn 
over a white waistcoat, a black three-cornered hat, with cock- 
ade and feather brush in the Prussian colors, taking the place 
of the helmet. 



384 



WiTttIN kOYAL PALACES. 



At the beginning of her married Hfe, Empress Augusta- 
Victoria suffered much from the imperious and overbearing 
nature of her mother-in-law. Of late, the Kaiser has become 
reconciled to his mother, and the bitterness which 



more 





THE WIDOWED EMPRESS. 



formerly marred their relations, especially during the last 
years of his father's life, has entirely disappeared. This has, 
moreover, contributed to bring about greatly improved re- 
lations between the two Imperial ladies. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



38: 



Not a day is now allowed to pass without the Emperor 
seeing his mother when she is at Berlin. William II. is too 
impetuous, headstrong and self-confident to submit to any 
control but that of a woman such as Queen Victoria's eldest 
daughter, who possesses the feminine art of not allowing him 
either to see or feel the reign ; and she is diplomatic enough 
to give him the impression that he is leading, while in reality 
he is being led. 

The widowed Empress was without a doubt mainly respon- 
sible for the fall of Prince Bismarck. There are many things 
that may be put forward in confirmation of this view. Empress 
Frederick always hated Bismarck, who, it must be owned, 
returned the feeling with interest. 

One of the principal subjects of disagreement between the 
Empress Frederick and the Bismarcks was the nomination of 
Princess Natalie von Hatzfeldt-Trachenberg to the important 
post of Grand Mistress of the Imperial Household, a few 
years ago. 

Princess Natalie was one of the pillars of the Court faction 
which, ever since the days of the Arnim scandal, has waged 
war against Prince Bismarck. Princess Natalie is a sister-in- 
law of the famous widow of the late Count Schleinitz, who is 
now the wife of Count Wolkenstein, the Austrian Ambassador 
at St. Petersburg, and who, in consequence of her infatuation 
for Wagner's music, is known in the Court circles and diplo- 
matic world of Europe as "-la Princess Trompette!' The salon 
of the latter, before she left Berlin, was the trysting-place of 
all the members of the Court-party opposed to Bismarck, 
and its importance may be gauged by the fact that the Chan- 
cellor caused the late Emperor to issue an order to the Countess 
to discontinue her weekly receptions. 
25 



386 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Princess Natalie's hatred of everything that bears the name 
of Bismarck is, however, attributable to another cause, for she 
was warmly attached to her husband's favorite sister, the 
lovely and blond wife of Prince Carolath-Beuthen, who, after 
being betrayed by Count Herbert Bismarck, was persuaded 
by him to desert home, her child, her place at Court, and her 
position in society, in order to elope with him to Italy. After 
traveling about for a couple of months in the south of Europe 
with the Princess, who was one of the most delicate and frail- 
looking beauties conceivable. Count Herbert finally tired of 
her and deserted her at Venice without making the slightest 
provision for her immediate necessities, or future life. Prince 
Carolath had meantime commenced proceedings for a divorce 
from her and, completely ruined both financially and socially, 
and disowned by all her family and friends, the poor woman 
made her way to Paris, where she suffered untold misery, 
humiliation and poverty. It was only two years later that, 
after diligent search, the unfortunate woman was discovered, 
almost in the gutter of the French metropolis, by her sister- 
in-law. Princess Natalie Hatzfeldt, who since that time has in 
the most kindly and delicate manner provided for all her rela- 
tive's wants and treated her with unaltered feelings of affection. 

The tact of Empress Frederick has triumphed where the 
statecraft, experience and cleverness of Prince Bismarck had 
signally failed. It was at her instigation that the Emperor 
summoned his former tutor, Professor Hintzpeter, to Berlin, 
and, after creating him Privy Councillor, gave the preference 
to his advice over that of Bismarck. The Professor is sin- 
cerely devoted to the widowed Empress, who years ago 
selected him from a large list of candidates to superintend 
the education of her eldest son. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. T^gj 

General Count Waldersee, with his American wife, is also 
cordially disliked by Her Majesty, who is both jealous of and 
incensed at their influence over her son and daughter-in-law. 
The feud has been of long standing. It began during the 
last year of Frederick's life, when the present Emperor, then 
merely Prince William, had by reason of the failing faculties 
of his ofrandfather and the absence of his afflicted father at 
San Remo, been wielding the power and enjoying the rank 
of a de facto, although not de jure, regent. Naturally of a 
domineering and autocratic disposition, the young Prince was 
not backward in availine himself to the fullest extent of the 
advantages of this peculiar situation, and exercised his 
authority in so high-handed a manner as to incur the 
gravest displeasure of his father. For reasons of his own 
Prince Bismarck, instead of striving to temper and bridle 
Prince William's character and to imbue him with constitu- 
tional rather than autocratic notions, lost no opportunity 
of encouraging the youth to quaff the intoxicating draught of 
Imperial power. Like all persons of hot-headed and some- 
what self-sufficient disposition, Germany's Kaiser is as soft as 
wax in the hands of a clever and clear-headed woman. In this 
particular case the woman happened to be this American 
lady, daughter of a New York banker, of the name of David 
Lea, who in 1864 was created by the Emperor of Austria a 
Princess von Noer in her own right, on the occasion of her 
previous morganatic marriage with Prince Frederick of 
Schleswig-Holstein. 

Born in 1840, Miss Mary Lea was but twenty-four years of 
age when she captivated the affections of the septuagenarian 
Prince at Paris. The wedding took place in the French capi- 
tal after a courtship of only a few weeks, and the curiously 



388 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



assorted couple, without proceeding to Germany, sailed from 
Marseilles for a prolonged bridal trip through Egypt and the 
Holy Land. The young Princess played her cards exceedingly 
cleverly. During the three months' trip up the Nile, the 
aged husband became more than ever infatuated with his 
beautiful young wife, and on his return to Cairo he drew up 
a will in which he bequeathed to her every farthing of his 
enormous wealth, including the valuable Noer estates, worth 
some ^4,000,000. From Egypt they made their way to Mount 
Sinai, and thence to Jerusalem. Having visited the various 
places of interest in the Holy Land, they now proceeded to 
Beirout, and were on the point of embarking for Smyrna when 
the Prince was suddenly seized with a fit of apoplexy, which 
carried him off a couple of hours later. The beautiful young 
American, after only six months of married life, thus found 
herself, at barely twenty-five years of age, free to marry again, 
a Princess of the Austrian Empire in her own right, and one 
of the wealthiest women in all Europe. 

Remembering old Weller's maxim, that as a rule mankind 
regards widows as a snare, and that the fact of their happen- 
ing to be beautiful only serves to increase the suspicion with 
which they are viewed, Madame de Noer determined to lose 
no time in getting another husband. With this laudable pur- 
pose in view, she took up her abode at one of the most 
fashionable of German watering-places, where her beauty, her 
wealth, her cleverness, and the touch of romance in her history 
soon caused her to be surrounded by a crowd of suitors of 
every degree and nationality. Among the most prominent 
and desirable of these was Count Waldersee, who, besides 
being a member of one of the most ancient families of Prussia, 
was 3 ^reat: f^vQrite both of the King and of Bismarck, and 




Count Hatzfeldt. 

German Ambassador to England. 



390 



WITHIN ROYAT. PALACES. 



generally regarded as one of the most prominent staff officers 
of the army. Still young in years, though high in military 
rank, Count Waldersee was then, and in fact still is, a singu- 
larly handsome man, of elegant figure and clear-cut features, 
whose ambitious views are tempered by a very clear head 
and a vast amount of common-sense. By the time that Prin- 
cess de Noer's first. year of widowhood had expired the battle 
of Sadowa had been fought, and the Count had been promoted 
from the rank of Colonel to that of Major-General. As his 
wife, the young American was far more likely to be able to 
enjoy to the fullest extent the advantages of her rank as 
Princess, than as a single woman and a foreigner; toward the 
end of 1866 a marriage accordingly took place between the 
Count and the widow, who shortly afterward proceeded with 
her husband to take up her residence at Berlin. 

Aided by his charming wife's cleverness and wealth, Qount 
Waldersee now became an important personage in the 
Prussian capital. A favorite of the Field Marshal von Moltke, 
and maintaining his intimate relations with the great Chan- 
cellor, he gradually got to be looked upon in the light of the 
latter's representative on the headquarter staff. He greatly 
distinguished himself during the Franco-German war, and 
when, a couple of years later, increasing age and infirmities 
forced von Moltke to ask for a deputy. General Count Wal- 
dersee was nominated to the post with the rank of Quarter- 
master-General of the German Empire. His wife's salon 
had meanwhile become a power in Berlin. It was the rallying 
place of the Chancellor's party as opposed to that of the 
anti-Bismarckian Court factions, and the great statesman, who 
has moulded in so wonderful a manner the German Empire 
and German unity, was never tired of expressing his warm 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



391 



regard for, and high appreciation of, the services rendered to 
his poHcy by the American Princess. 

When, in 1881, Prince WilHam, the present Emperor, mar- 
ried Princess Victoria, of Schleswig-Holstein, the power and 
influence of the Waldersees still further increased, for by 
virtue of her first marriage, Princess de Noer was a grand- 
aunt of the Royal bride. The latter did not meet with much 
kindness at the hands either of the Prussian Royal family or 
of the Imperial Court. Her mother-in-law, the Empress 
Frederick, who is one of the most talented and clever women 
in Europe, is intensely intolerant of stupid women ; and, un- 
fortunately, she made no pretence of hiding the fact that she 
placed her eldest son's wife in that category. Thoroughly 
unhappy, disconcerted and friendless. Princess William was 
only too glad to seize the helping hand held out to her by 
Count Waldersee's wife, and to avail herself of the relation- 
ship which existed between them to turn to her for guidance 
and advice. Few persons were better qualified than Countess 
Waldersee to act the part of mentor to the young Princess 
among the pit-falls of the Berlin Court society. Nor was the 
result long in making itself felt. The Princess became com- 
pletely subject to the will and direction of her clever relative, 
and Prince William was not lone ii^ followino- his wife's 
example, and soon was as subservient as the latter to the 
talented American. 

Empress Frederick, then Crown Princess, always displayed 
a marked antipathy towards Count Waldersee's wife, whom 
she regards as a parvenu, an intriguante, and even as an 
adventuress. The bitterest enmity raged between the two 
women, and partly to this must be attributed the exceedingly 
strained relations between her and Prince and Princess 



-g2 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

William, which continued for a long time. It was due to the 
influence of Countess Waldersee that for more than five 
months Princess William entirely ceased to correspond with 
her mother-in-law, and it is likewise due to the Countess 
that both Prince William and his wife displayed such marked 
favor to the well-known Court Chaplain Stoecker, the leader 
of the " Judenhetz " movement, who is probably the bitterest 
and most openly avowed of the enemies of the Empress 
Frederick. Pastor Stoecker was the editor of a religious 
weekly paper, "The Ecclesiastical Review," and in a number 
issued on the loth of December, 1887, he actually had the 
audacity to write in an editorial article signed with his name 
the following cruel sentence : 

"Let us pray every day and every hour for our Royal 
Family, and in particular for the old man (Kaiser William) 
and for the young man (Prince William) of this race of heroes. 
May God in his mercy grant that the terrible punishment 
which has overtaken the sick Prince Frederick bear fruit, and 
may it bring resignation to his mind and peace to his con- 
science." 

It should be borne in mind that this strange paragraph, in 
which it was openly insinuated that Unser Fritz's malady was 
a just and well-merited punishment for his sins, appeared just 
at the time when, sorely afflicted and singularly blameless, 
the Prince appeared to be nearest death's door; at a time, in 
short, when Pastor Stoecker was going about everywhere, 
exclaiming: "A brilliant future is about to open up before 
us !" 

A few days later, both Prince and Princess William were 
present at a lecture delivered by Pastor Stoecker in the sa- 
lons of Countess Waldersee, the main purpose of which was 



The imperial family of Germany. 39^ 

that a revival of the movement against the Jews, which was 
necessary to ensure the maintenance of the Throne, the pres- 
ervation of the "Vaterland," and the safeguard of society. 
An appeal was made for funds for the Stoecker Berlin Mis- 
sion, which, under the cover of propagating the gospel, was 
especially devoted to the work of the anti-Jewish movement ; 
and a liberal response was made thereto by those present. 
Moreover, at the close of the lecture, Prince William arose 
and endorsed " his friend," Pastor Stoecker's remarks in such 
forcible language that a profound sensation was created 
throughout Germany at the time, and that Prince Bismarck 
was forced to publish an official notice to the effect that they 
had been misunderstood. It should be added that " Unser 
Fritz" frequently expressed his strongest disapproval of 
Pastor Stoecker's participation in the " Judenhetz," and re- 
peatedly, though unsuccessfully, urged Kaiser Wilhelm to 
deprive him of the Court Chaplaincy. The Emperor, whose 
liberal and broad-minded tendencies are well known, was of 
the opinion of Frederick the Great, namely, that everybody 
is entitled to seek eternal salvation in his own way, and he 
even went so far as to be present with his wife at the solemn 
inauguration of a Jewish synagogue, in order to show how 
thoroughly he disapproved of the persecution of the Jews. 
As if still further to demonstrate their sympathy and favor 
towards their father's assailant, Prince and Princess William 
actually took the trouble on New Year's day to drive to Pastor 
Stoecker's house and to convey to him in person their good 
wishes — an unheard-of compliment, and entirely in contradic- 
tion of the traditional Court etiquette. 

This will suffice to show how great is the influence which 
Countess Waldersee wielded over the Emperor and the 



m 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Empress of Germany. She was at the time popularly regarded 
as the power behind the Throne. She is probably the only 
woman in the Prussian Capital who, as far as power of intel- 
lect is concerned, can be in any way compared with the young 
Monarch's mother. Of course, the latter was extremely jeal- 
ous of her, and during the brief reign of Emperor Frederick 
she prevailed upon him to keep both the Count and his wife 
at a distance from Berlin. On the present Monarch's acces- 
sion, the couple became almost omnipotent. The Count 
was regarded as Prince Bismarck's only possible successor, 
and the intercourse between the Countess and her Imperial 
niece was of the most intimate nature. 

Now, however, all is changed, the Empress mother tri- 
umphed so far over her powerful rival that the relations 
between the Palace and the Waldersees have become exceed- 
ingly frigid. 

Another proof of the influence wielded by the mother over 
the son is given by His Majesty's marked demonstrations of 
affection and cordiality lavished upon his uncle, the Prince of 
Wales, during his visit to England, Three years ago they 
were scarcely on speaking terms, and both the British Heir 
Apparent and his charming Consort were even the objects of 
great discourtesy on the part of their nephew when they 
were in the Prussian capital at the time of the late Emperor's 
funeral. 

One of the most interesting personalities at the Prussian 
Court is Princess Frederick Charles, who lately accepted the 
Presidency of the German Woman's Department of the 
World's Fair at Chicago. She is the widow of the celebrated 
cavalry general, who played so prominent a part in the wars 
of 1864, 1866 and 1870. 




Reigning Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 



296 WiTHIlSf ROYAL PALACES. 

He used to be known as the " Red Prince," in consequence 
of the hussar uniform which he invariably wore, and was the 
type of the cavalry leader of the olden times — that is to say, 
swaggering, blustering, loud-voiced and exceedingly brusque 
and abrupt in his manner. He presented a striking contrast 
in every way to his wife, who was, and who still is, a singu- 
larly beautiful woman. The couple lived unhappily with one 
another. Stories of the Princess's maltreatment by her hus- 
band were very frequent at one time, and only ceased when, 
after bearing him seven daughters, she finally gave birth to an 
ardently wished-for son. 

The Princess became a widow about six years ago and 
recendy contracted a second marriage, of a morganatic char- 
acter, with one of her chamberlains, a mesalliance which gave 
great offence at Court. She can, however, afford to be very 
independent, as she is immensely rich, and whenever anything 
occurs at Berlin which she does not like, she goes off to Italy, 
to France, or Spain for a prolonged trip. 

It is probable, because she is one of the most attractive, 
elegant and chic of Prussian Princesses, that she is unpopular 
with the feminine portion of the Berlin Court, and of Berlin 
society. 

Women have always been jealous of her, and it is to this 
sentiment that must be attributed the vile stories whispered 
concerninof her conduct from one boudoir to another. But it 
cannot be denied that the household of Prince and Princess 
Frederick Charles at Berlin was a hot-bed of never-ending 
scandal, which necessitated constant changes among the 
ladies-in-waiting. 

Prince Frederick Charles's father, a younger brother of old 
Emperor William, was likewise the hero of many scandals. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF GERMANY. 



397 



Indeed, it was fortunate for him that he was a member of the 
Royal Family, else the authorities would have been forced 
to deal very severely with him. His own brother admitted 
as much. 

Another member of the present Emperor's family, namely, 
his brother-in-law, Prince Bernhardt, of Saxe-Meiningen, is cor- 
dially disliked in Court circles. Although a harmless enough 
fellow, he continually manages to become the victim of some 
ridiculous adventure or other, and the Berlin grand-monde 
has hardly yet stopped laughing at the amusing incident 
which happened to him during his recent stay at Ems. He 
had accepted an invitation to dine with one of the local dig- 
nitaries, and, finding on reaching the street in which his host 
resided that he was ten minutes ahead of time, he sent away 
his carriage and commenced strolling up and down in the 
dusk so as to give an opportunity for the other guests to ar- 
rive, since etiquette demanded that they should all be present 
when he made his appearance. His military cloak was 
thrown over his shoulder, and the gas lamps gave such a 
dim light that his features were scarcely recognizable. 

Suddenly a side door opened, and an exceedingly fat 
woman, dressed as a cook, bounced out, imprinted a loud- 
smacking kiss on His Royal Highness's lips, and placed a 
huge package which smelt of ham, sausage and cheese in his 
arms, with the exclamation: 

"There, my dear, we have got a royal prince to dinner to- 
night, and I am driven off my feet ; I cannot give you more. 
Come to-morrow night." With that she disappeared before 
he had time to make any response. 

Prince Bernhardt, who is of rather a phlegmatic and philo- 
sophical turn of mind, continued his walk, carrying the 



398 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



somewhat greasy parcel in his arms, and awaited developments ! 
A few minutes later he observed on the other side of the 
street a soldier gazing in a melancholy and expectant man- 
ner at the windows of the house opposite. He thereupon 
crossed over, and, accosting the soldier, asked him if his 
sweetheart lived in that house, and on receiving an affirma- 
tive answer from the man, he handed him the parcel and in- 
formed him that the cook expected him at the usual hour on 
the following day. The soldier's whole face lighted up as 
he thanked the Prince, whom he failed to recognize. 

"She gave me something else for you," continued His 
Royal Highness, "which, however, I do not know how to 
give you." 

"Keep it, keep it," replied the soldier, "I have got quite 
enough to-day," and with that disappeared. 



T 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

BAVARIA. 

HE reigning King of Bavaria is Otto I, a man whose 
Slate of mental alienation is dark and terrible. He 
lives since his accession, as he had lived before, shut up in 
the small palace of Furstenreid, about two hours distant from 
Munich. Of late years his malady has taken the form of 
stupor, though there are still occasional outbreaks of violence. 
There was from the beginning no prospect of recovery or 
even of improvement in his case, although it was foreseen 
that his merely animal existence might continue for a long 
time. He occupies a suite of apartments on the ground 
floor, the doors of which, as well as the outside door leading 
into the garden, are always left open in the day-time, as a 
closed door immediately excites his rage. He seems suspi- 
cious of restraint, and his attendants conceal as much as pos- 
sible an appearance of authority over his movements. Once 
he broke all the front windows of his apartments, and since 
then the glass has been protected by wire ; and otherwise there 
is nothing to indicate that a lunatic inhabits the premises. 
The rooms are handsomely furnished, and everything that 
can amuse the patient is promptly supplied. 

The King is always dressed in black. His beard is very 
long and thick, and he will not allow it to be trimmed. He 
often washes his face and hands, but can seldom be per- 
suaded to take a full bath. He is extremely fond of cigar- 
ettes, and smokes about thirty a day — enough in itself to 
make him crazy and keep him so ! Every time he lights a 

(399) 



400 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

cigarette he burns a whole box of matches, and seems to 
enjoy the noise and flame. He often walks out in the park, 
but is very unwilling to drive out, probably because it annoys 
him to be looked at by people in the road. The sensational 
reports which appear occasionally in the papers concerning 
King Otto are, for the most part, false. The truth is, he hasJ 
no marked desire for anything. His gaze is generally fixed 
on vacancy, and he does not appear to recognize even his 
servants, excepting an old woman who has charge of the 
silver. He has known her all his life ; she used to carry him 
in her arms when he was a baby, and it is touching to see 
how the last faint rays of his fading intelligence rest upon 
her alone. When he sees her he calls her name in a loud 
tone, and orders her to bring him a glass of beer or whatever 
he may happen to think of, but he soon forgets what he has 
said, and relapses into his usual state of apathy. 

Two of the most prominent physicians of Munich are in 
attendance on alternate weeks, and every Sunday the Director 
of the Insane Asylum visits the Palace to examine him and make 
the medical report. At rare intervals the King speaks cohe- 
rently to his attendants, and it is said that soon after his acces- 
sion to the throne he remarked to a lackey, " Henceforth, you 
must address me as your Majesty." But this story does not 
appear to be well founded, and It is certain that when Prin- 
cess Theresa went from the death-bed of the Queen-mother 
to apprise the son of his loss, he showed no signs of compre- 
hension, and was unmoved by the grief of the Princess, whose 
tears were doubtless more for the livinof than for the dead. 

The reign of the mad King, unfortunately for the country 
and the people, promises to continue for some time. The 
marvelous Wittelsbach strength, has enabled him to recover 



402 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

from the effects of the physical weakness which overcame 
him a short time ago. He may Hve for years in the semi-con- 
scious state in which he is found a great part of the time. As 
a matter of course, he has the best medical care and attend- 
ance possible, and the physicians do all in their power to 
prolong his unhappy and miserable existence. No other 
course is possible, but his death would be a relief to the 
country and to Germany. 

Although, as I said above, he is unable to recognize his 
relatives, attendants, or friends, and remains for hours mo- 
tionless in his padded room, he has lucid intervals. Not a 
great while ago he suddenly recognized his attendants and 
became cognizant of his lofty position. A cavalier about the 
castle asked him if he did not wish to show himself to his 
subjects in Munich. 

" Gladly, gladly would I go to Munich," he replied, with a 
look of irrepressible sadness in his eyes, " but my people wish 
to see a well King, and I am sick. Yes, yes, yes, I am sick, 
and these terrible fancies will not leave me." 

Upon another occasion he demanded suddenly that his at- 
tendants take him to his capital. In order to avoid an attack 
of violent excitement probable in case of a refusal, a court 
carriage was summoned to the castle steps. The King, one 
of the physicians, and an attendant, clad in royal livery to 
avoid suspicion, entered the coach, which started on its jour- 
ney. Looking out of the window, the King saw a meadow 
almost covered with variously-hued flowers. He expressed 
a desire to gather a bouquet to present to his mother, and 
the coachman stopped while he plucked the flowers. But the 
work was too tiring, and he returned to the carriage com- 
pletely exhausted. He was taken back to the castle and 



I 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BAVARTA, .q>. 

placed in bed. When he awoke on the following morning 
his reason was again clouded, and he had entirely forgot the 
journey to Munich. 

The greatest difficulty which confronts the King's physi- 
cians is to persuade him to eat. At times the doctors take 
advantage of his weakness for cigarettes to urge him to take 
some food. Upon one occasion they placed a package of 
cigarettes on the table next to his plate. When the Kino- en- 
tered the dininor-room he rushed at once toward the cioar- 
ettes, but the attendant physician quickly threw a napkin over 
them, saying at the same time, "The cigarettes. Your 
Majesty, must follow the dinner." Keeping the tobacco in 
sight during the meal-time, the doctor induced the King to 
eat some nourishing food. He received his reward at the 
proper time. But such subterfuges are not always success- 
ful. Although the good Bavarians celebrate his natal day 
with becoming loyalty, they would one and all welcome his 
death as a deliverance to the country. Prince Leopold, the 
Regent, is popular, and his son promises to become one of 
the most enlightened monarchs who have sat upon South 
German thrones. 

Singularly unfortunate have been the rulers of Bavaria for 
many years past. The mysterious circumstances attending 
the deposition and death of the late King Louis are still pres- 
ent to the mind, and thoughts of the poor mad King are so 
closely linked with any mention of the country itself that 
whilst writing about his unfortunate successor, I seem to live 
again through my last visit to Neuschwannstein. 

In spite of the almost incredible luxury with which he was 
surrounded, the King presented a heart-breaking picture as 



404 



WtTttiN ROYAL MLACeS. 



he wandered wildly about the gorgeous apartments which he 
had himself designed. 

Guarding the door of the sovereign's private rooms in the 
castle of Neuschwannstein was a curious ornament of the 
King's own design, consisting of a magnificent silver palm- 
tree, eight feet high, 
laden with fruit, at 
the foot of which 
crouched a horrible 
gray dragon, sap- 
ping the roots. 

Who knows if the 
poor, mad King did 
not mean to illus- 
trate his own magni- 
ficent physique and 
intelligence attacked 
by that most terrible 
of all diseases, 
namely, hereditary 
insanity? 

N eu schwannstein 
is built on the ex- 
treme edge of the 
plateau, and when 
the King was on the balcony of the fifth-floor room above 
mentioned, he was able to gaze down into a chasm over 
i,ooo feet deep. With his horror of daylight he would retire 
to rest at daybreak, and remain in artificially darkened rooms 
all day. 

The ceilings of each of his bed-rooms were painted dark- 




THE REGENT KING. 



I 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BAVARIA. ^qc 

blue, and through little pieces of glass, cut in the shape of 
stars, a soft light shone on the royal sleeper. An artificial 
moon was likewise arranged in the ceiling, artificial palm- 
trees surrounded the bed, and through the branches thereof 
might be seen at the end of the room an artificial waterfall. 
He would never rise until five o'clock in the afternoon. The 
whole place had to be brilliantly lighted up every evening 
with some 8,000 wax candles, at a nightly cost of over ^1,000. 

One of his pet crazes was about King Louis XIV, of 
France, and on the anniversary of the latter's birth he would 
dine, en ^e/e-d-^e^e with a marble bust of the "Grand Monarque," 
to which he would address the most ^a/on rou£'e compVimGnts. 
On these occasions he would be dressed in a Louis XIV 
costume, and was very proud of his shapely leg, which, how- 
ever, ended unfortunately in an unusually big foot. 

In his Cabmet de toilette at Neuschwannstein are some 
rather risque but magnificently executed frescoes, represent- 
ing scenes from the Droit du Seigneur {\\\e Lord's privileges). 
In one room there is a fine portrait of Marie Antoinette, of 
France, which no one was allowed to pass without prostrating 
himself before it. He insisted that the servants who waited 
on him at the table should do so on their knees without look- 
ing up. If they forgot this injunction by any mischance. His 
Majesty would box their ears, kick them, or else spit in their 
face. Durino- the last months of his life he used to suffer 
terribly from pains in the back of his head, which were so 
severe that he used to wear a kind of gutta-percha cap filled 
with ice at his meals. 

So anxious was he to obtain funds for the continuance of 
his building operations that he sent emissaries requesting 
loans, ftn^ong others to the Emperor of Austria and Brazil, to 



4o6 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



the Shah of Persia, and to the King of Sweden. He succeeded 
in obtaining money from Queen Isabella of Spain, and from 
the Khedive of Egypt. His emissaries had commenced 
negotiations with the Comte de Paris for a loan of ^8,000,000, 
which the Rothschilds had ag-reed to advance on the French 




STATE SLEIGH OF THE REGENT OF BAVARIA. 



pretender's guarantee. The loan was to have been made on 
the condition that the Kino- should do his best to neutralize 
Bismarck's policy in case of war between France and Ger- 
many. It was probably partly due to this and the complica- 
tions which might have resulted therefrom which incited 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BAVARL\. 



407 



Prince Bismarck at the time to give his consent to the 
deposition of his most devoted admirer. It may be added as 
indicative of the diseased state of the King's brain that he 
was greatly interested in the perfection of a flying-machine, 
and assuredly the inventor of Keeley's motor would have 
found a warm patron in the royal crank. 

Among other things contained in the report of the medical 
faculty about the King's mental condition was a statement of 
Dr. Loehr, Director of the Bavarian Archives, to the effect 
that Ludwig wished to sell Bavaria in order to purchase for 
himself a kingdom where he could reign as an absolute mon- 
arch. Dr. Loehr declared that in 1873, by order of the late 
King, he spent three months and a half in visiting the Canary 
Islands and the Greek Archipelago, and in 1875 two months 
and a half in visits to Crete, Cyprus, and the Levant, with the 
object of finding a suitable place of residence for His Majesty 
for a longer or shorter period, as might be desired. He was 
also careful to inquire whether in any of these places it would 
be possible for His Majesty to acquire the full and absolute 
right of sovereignty of the locality for the remainder of his 
life. The Director strongly and earnestly advised the King 
to relinquish these projects, but at the same time could not 
refuse to comply with His Majesty's positive orders to obtain 
the necessary information. 

Another member of the family of Bavaria whose brain is 
certainly more than unsettled is Duchess Adalbert of Bavaria, 
who about a year ago created such a sensation throughout 
Europe by her intimacy with a popular German actor — an in- 
timacy which led to the suicide under particularly dramatic 
circumstances of the Victor's fiancee. Nor is this by any means 
the only scandal of this kind in which the Duchess has been 



4o8 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

implicated, and her conduct since the death of her husband, 
fifteen years ago, has been such that the urgency of placing 
her under restraint has several times been under discussion 
by the members of the Royal family of Bavaria. 

One of the most extraordinary things which I have ever 
seen her do was during a performance at the opera in Munich 
some seven years ago, when she suddenly, to the consterna- 
tion of the entire audience, made a desperate attempt to sit 
on the balustrade of the royal box with her feet hanging down- 
ward over the heads of the people below. It was only with 
the greatest difficulty that her ladies and gentlemen in wait- 
inof were able to induce her to withdraw from this extraor- 
dinary and perilous position and to retire to her place. 

The extravagances of the Duchess will surprise no one 
when it is remembered that she is the sister-in-law of 
Queen Isabella of Spain and that every one of her brothers 
and sisters have turned out to be a discredit to their Royal 
family. 

Three of her sisters, the Infantas Isabella, Louise, and Jo- 
sephine, eloped with persons of non-royal rank whom they 
subsequently married. Her fourth sister, Christine, the 
mother of the Duke of Durcal who attempted to foist a collec- 
tion of questionable old masters upon the New York public 
three years ago, is what they call in Spain a "tonta," or in 
other words, an imbecile. Of her two brothers, one was killed 
in a duel by the Duke of Montpensier, while the other is the 
ridiculous little creature under five feet high, who is the hus- 
band — in name only — of the jolly, fat, and — I am sorry to add 
— disreputable old Queen Isabella. 

With a family such as this it is only natural thatthe Duchess 
Adalbert shpuld be somewhat odd, and it is to be hoped that 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BAVARIA. 



409 



her daughter, the Princess Elvira, whose name has already 
once been before the public in connection with a romantic epi- 
sode, which it would be ungracious to describe here, will in- 
herit none of her mother's moral peculiarities. 

Princess Elvira 
has two brothers, 
one whom, Prince 
Louis, has adopted 
the medical profes- 
sion, and has ac- 
quired almost as 
much fame as an 
obstetrical surgeon 
as his uncle, Duke 
Charles Theodore, 
has achieved as an 
oculist. He is very 
devout and, I might 
almost add, bigoted, 
for his youngest 
child bears not only 
the names of eight 
saints but also the 
peculiar additional 
names of omnes 
sancti, which means 
that, in addition to 
those mentioned, all the other thousands of saints are to be 
called the child's sponsors and patrons. 

Duke Charles Theodore of Bavaria, a cousin of King Otto, 
^nd a brother of the Empress of Austria, combines his ined- 




DUKE CHARLES THEODORE. 
(The Famous Oculist.) 



4IO WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

ical practice with the manifold duties involved by the personal 
management of a great summer hotel. It Is a hotel conducted 
on peculiar principles. During the three summer months it 
Is thronged by a fashionable and wealthy crowd of visitors, 
belonging to the great world of Vienna, Munich, Berlin, etc., 
and the prices charged for accommodation are about on a 
par with those at other summer hotels. The money thus 
earned is used by the Duke to board and lodge in the hotel 
during the three months of the spring and the three months 
of autumn poor artists, officers, professors, and literary men 
— persons of education and breeding who stand in need of a 
holiday, but who have not wherewith to pay for it — all with- 
out expense to themselves of a single cent. 

This ducal hotel, thus conducted, is an old Benedictine 
monastery, situated at Kreuth, on the slopes of Hohlenstein, 
one of the Bavarian Alps, overlooking the lovely Tegernsee. 

For three months In the year Kreuth Is thronged with 
visitors. South Germans as a rule, who come and go and pay 
their bills, as at any other health resort. Every effort is made 
to render their visit as pleasant as possible. Hardly a day 
passes but Duke Charles Theodore, King Max's grandson, 
and the present owner of Kreuth, drives over from Tegern- 
see to see that they are being properly taken care of; while 
his brother, Prince Ludwig, generally lives in the hotel, and 
plays the host in a quaint, informal fashion, lavishing upon 
his guests all sorts of courteous attentions. Moreover, many 
high and mighty personages are to be met with at every turn. 
Until the last few years the Empress of Austria, who, as I just 
said, is a sister of Duke Charles Theodore, was a constant 
v^isltor at Kreuth ; the ex-Queen of Naples still goes there, 
and 50 dQ the King of Wurteniburg, the Qrleanist Princes, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BAVARIA. 



411 



the Princess Frederica of Hanover, and the Duke of Cumber- 
land ; while as for the members of the Bavarian Royal family, 
there is always some one or other of them there. There are, 
in fact, so many royalties at Kreuth that it is one of the few 
places on the earth where they are treated just as ordinary 
mortals. Perhaps that is why they like going there so much. 

During June, July, and August the place is conducted upon 
strictly business principles, the charges for the rooms, etc., 
being precisely the same as those charged in other hotels of 
equal standing in the neighborhood. The Duke, who has a 
wholesome horror of middlemen, has made his hotel almost 
independent of outside supplies. He rears his own cattle, 
grinds his own corn, and has even turned one wing of his 
palace into a brewery that he may brew his own beer. By 
this arrangement the working expenses of the establishment 
are considerably lessened ; and at the end of the season the 
Duke has always a handsome balance in hand, the profits of 
his three months' hotel-keeping, which he spends for the 
benefit of his ^poor proteges. As I said above, he is one of 
the most skillful oculists in Europe, and he is always on the 
look-out for people whom he can help. The success of his 
operations is really marvelous, and in spite of the scantiness 
of his private fortune he manages to keep up two huge eye- 
hospitals, one at Tegernsee and one at Meran, for the benefit 
of the poor. 

All the members of the Royal family, in spite of their 
eccentricities, are charitable. 

Princess Maria Theresa, who is at the present moment the 
first lady in the kingdom of Bavaria, is the wife of the heir- 
apparent to the Bavarian throne. She is distinguished for 
the arrogance and haughtiness of her demeanor, as well as 



4l2 WITHIl^' ROYAL PALACES, 

for the fact that she is the mother of no less than 1 3 chil- 
dren. Inasmuch as both the insane King and the aged 
Regent, her father-in-law, are both wifeless, it is she who 
possesses most of the attributes of a Queen, and who decides 
on all questions of female rank and precedence. 

Her sister-in-law. Princess Gisella, who, like herself, is an 
Austrian Archduchess, although of a different branch, being 
the eldest daughter of the Emperor Francis Joseph, has much 
to suffer from Maria Theresa's terrible temper, and from the 
attitude of antagonism which the latter adopts toward her. 

Empress Elizabeth of Austria's eldest brother, Duke Louis 
of Bavaria, has been twice morganatically married, on each 
occasion to actresses. His second wife is now living. By 
his first marriage he became the father of that Countess 
George Larisch who played so discreditable a role in connec- 
tion with the late Crown Prince Rudolph's intimacy with the 
Baroness Marie Vetschera. 

Duke Louis is the favorite brother of the Empress Eliza- 
beth, and formerly enjoyed the reputation of being as superb 
a horseman as his sister is an equestrienne. He is still a 
handsome man, and has always enjoyed a considerable amount 
of popularity among his people in consequence of the ro- 
mantic interest attaching to his marriage ; for, when he led 
f the fair Ballerina Henrietta Mendel to the altar, he surren- 
dered all his rights of succession, as well as his share in the 
entailed property of the family to his younger brother, the 
oculist, Duke Charles Theodore. 

The Royal family of Bavaria have from time immemorial 
been known to fame as the principal brewers of all Germany. 
The famous Hofbrau Haus, or royal brewery, was estab- 
lished in September, 1589, by Duke William, of Bavaria, and 
has become one of the national institutions of the country. 



I 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BAVARIA, 413 

No one who has not been much in Munich can form any idea 
of the grim, dingy tavern at which the royal court beer has 
been sold at retail for the last 300 years, and which forms 
part of the ancient palace of the Dukes of Bavaria. 

There are no waiters, no waitresses, everybody being ex- 
pected to attend to his own wants, and on the occasion of the 
Emperor of Germany's last visit to Munich, he, together with 
Prince Leopold, of Bavaria, took their place in line and awaited 
their turn for a stone mug. which, in accordance with a time- 
honored custom of the place, they themselves rinsed at the 
tank before again forming in a line for the purpose of having 
their mugs filled. 

Colonels and Generals in full uniform were in this line, 
along with chimney- sweeps, scavengers, students, and Jew 
peddlers. As soon as their mugs were filled the Emperor and 
the Prince sat down at the rough deal tables, which have done 
service for time immemorial, and purchased from the peram- 
bulating vendors slices of " wurst" and " schwarzbrod" (saus- 
age and black bread). 

It would surprise most people that great personages should 
be ready to put up with so much discomfort for the sake of a 
mere mue of beer. A draught of the latter is all that is re- 
quired by way of explanation. The beer is truly royal and 
in every way worthy of the ancient dynasty of Witeslbach 
which produces it. Nowhere else in the world is it possible 
to obtain such beer, the recipe for which was obtained by the 
ducal founder from the famous brewer Degernberg, and has 
been kept as a State secret ever since. 

The net profit of the Hofbrau Haus, the beer being sold 
only at retail and drunk on the premises, amounts to about 
$800,000 or $1,000,000 every year, and constitutes an import- 
ant source of private revenue for the Royal House of Bavaria. 



414 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

The early history of the ducal hotel at Kreuth, before men- 
tioned, is quite interesting. Early in the eighteenth century 
the Benedictine monks, who had their headquarters at Tegern- 
see, obtained possession of all the land in that neighbor- 
hood. The fathers, skillful doctors in their way, were not 
long in discovering the curative qualities of the little sulphur 
springs on the Hohlenstein plateau. They built by the side 
of it a hospital, to which the delicate members of the order 
used to retire from time to time to recruit. 

As years passed this hospital was replaced by a larger 
one; and right up to 1803, when the order was dissolved, 
Kreuth was the regular health-resort of the Benedictines. 
The hospital was then turned into a farm-house. In 181 3, 
however, it was purchased by King Max of Bavaria, who 
restored the old Badhaus and erected a second. So long as 
he lived the place was used as a convalescent home for the 
poor ; and when at his death it passed into the hands of his 
widow, it was with the condition attached that a certain num- 
ber of poor girls should every year be hospitably entertained 
there. It was his wish that Kreuth should remain a char- 
itable institution ; but, as usual, funds were low in the Bava- 
rian exchequer, and the poor cannot be entertained without 
money. 

Soon King Max's widow and son resolved to try an 
experiment. They set to work to see whether the natural 
advantages of Kreuth could not be turned to account as a 
means of raising funds for charity. The old buildings were 
furbished up and new ones erected, until accommodation for 
nearly three hundred persons was provided. An excellent 
cook was engaged and the place was turned into a regular 
hotel. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

HOLLAND. 

L 

QUEEN Wilhelmina Paulene Helene Marie of the Nether- 
lands was born on the 31st of August, 1880, when 
her royal father was already sixty-three years of age, 
and when consequently hope had almost been abandoned of 
seeing the royal family of Orange perpetuated in the direct 
line. Queen Emma, who was then only twenty-two, was 
overjoyed at the birth of the child, as she was in great need 
of something to love, her elderly husband being anything but 
the kind of man on which it would be natural to lavish one's 
affections. 

The royal child was brought up by a French nurse during 
the first three years of her life, and was then confided to the 
care of a Parisian governess, Mile. Loitard, a woman of 
many talents, who took pleasure in her task, and devoted 
her whole existence to her young charge. The King, who 
hated everything German, never consented to his little 
daughter learning the German language, but Queen Wil- 
helmina speaks Dutch, Italian and English as fluently as 
French. Two years ago, Mile. Loitard, being forced by 
family circumstances to give up her post of governess to the 
little Princess, was replaced by an English lady. Miss Winter, 
who is still intrusted with the young Queen's education. 

(415) 



4i6 



WiTttm ROYAL PALACEg. 



The Queen's household is composed of two chamberlains, 
of four professors, of an equerry, and of two lady's maids; 
this is her immediate entourage ; but, of course, she also has 
a military household, whose place, for the present at least, 

may be considered 
in the light of a 
sinecure. 

It has been said 
of the English Par- 
liament that there 
was nothing it could 
not do except turn 
a woman i n t o a 
man. The Dutch 
High Court of Jus- 
tice has given proof 
of its ability to ac- 
complish what i s 
beyond the power 
even of the British 
Pari ament, by de- 
cidinof at the time of 
the King's death 
that officials and other public servants should take the 
oath of allegiance, not to the "Queen," but to "King" 
Wilhelmina. This extraordinary decision was violently at- 
tacked by the press as contrary to common-sense, but the 
High Court is far too independent a body for their having 
any chance of its yielding the point. 

Indifferent as to whether she is officially regarded as King or 
Queen, pretty, fair-haired Wilhelmina enjoys life as Sovereign 




QUEEN WILHELMINA. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF HOLLAND. .jj 

Oi the Netherlands, and oblivious of the mighty inter- 
ests gathered about her crown, she spends her days happily 
at the old Castle of Loo, where she has remained with her 
mother ever since her father's death. 

Het-Loo, as the place is called in Dutch, is a very beautiful 
place, although the palace itself is small for a royal abode. It 
is surrounded by green meadows and shaded by century-old 
trees, which give the place a very English aspect. In the 
garden during the spring and early summer blossom the 
marvellous tulips in which King William took so much pride, 
but in winter everything is bare and bleak, and were it not 
for the great clusters of evergreens which stand out here and 
there against the snowy background, and for some red-ber- 
ried holly bushes in Queen Wilhelmina's own little garden, 
the view from the windows would be a dreary one. 

The rooms on the ground floor are almost entirely devoted 
to a superb collection of curios from the West Indies, 
brought back by King William's brother, Prince Henry of 
Orange, who realized an enormous fortune by a series of 
lucky investments in the Dutch West Indies, and who be- 
queathed his entire wealth to his little niece. 

A double staircase, with an elaborately carved balustrade, 
leads to the upper hall, which is draped with the most 
exquisite sixteenth-century Flemish tapestries. There are 
also to be seen some of the finest paintings of Bouguereau, 
Meissonier, Jules Lefevre and Fortuny, King William having 
had a weakness for the French school of painters. 

The King's study, which has now become the young Queen's 

private audience-room, looks - more like an armory than 

like anything else. On the carved and wainscoted walls are 

trophies of guns and matchlocks, swords, daggers and spears, 

27 



4i8 



•\AnTHlN ROVAL tALACfeS. 



some of them dating as far back as the time of the Crusades. 
The fireplace is of porphyry, and is adorned with a cartouch, 
whereon the motto of the House of Orange, " ^e maintiendrai** 
is engraved in gold. One of the most conspicuous orna- 
ments of this apartment is a ponderous silver inkstand, which 
has played an important role in Dutch history. Indeed, it 
may be asserted that the Hollanders are indebted thereto for 
their safety and for the maintenance of their independence in 
1870. King William, who always hated Germany, had 
announced his intention to accept Napoleon III.'s invitation 
and to join in the conflict on the French side. Popular feeling 
in Holland, however, was in favor of neutrality, and strongly 
opposed to any participation in the war. But so ungovern- 
able and violent was the temper of the King that no one, not 
even his Ministers, would venture to point out to him the 
danger of his projected course. At length an old Privy 
Councillor, named Thorbecke, who had held the Premier- 
ship on several occasions, and who was a special object of 
detestation to the King, undertook the task. On perceiving 
him the Monarch blurted out, roughly and without rising : 

" Good morning, good morning. What do you want? 
What's the news?" 

" Nothing in particular. Your Majesty, only the Haguers 
are talking a good deal of nonsense." 

"I hope it is only about those idiotic Ministers of mine, and 
not about me." 

"Yes, sire; it is about Your Majesty." 

" About me ! About me !" exclaimed the passionate Mon- 
arch, with growing wrath. "What may they say about me? 
Tell me, I insist." 

"Well, sire," answered the old Statesman, slowly and 



tHft feoVAL FA^ilLY OP rfOtLANt). i j^ 

impressively, *' the Haguers declare that Your Majesty has 
become stark, staring mad as — " 

Before he could utter another word, the King had jumped 
up, his face purple with fury, and raised the heavy silver ink- 
stand aloft, with the intention of hurling it at the head of his 
former Premier. Fortunately, a projecting angle of the ink- 
stand had been caught in the table-cloth, and, while dragging 
everything off the table, had arrested the flight of the missile. 

"Sire," exclaimed Thorbecke, quietly stepping close up to 
the King, but without betraying the slightest trace of emotion 
either in his speech or attitude, "If your Majesty does hurl 
that beautiful inkstand at my head the Haguers will have 
been correct in their assertions." 

For a minute the fat little King gazed in silence at the 
lean, lank, phlegmatic old Dutchman standing before him. 
Neither uttered a word. Then gradually William lowered 
his arm and replaced the inkstand on the table, after which 
he walked to one of the windows, where he remained looking 
out for about five minutes. Returning to the table he re- 
sumed his seat, motioned Thorbecke to another one, and 
then said, as if nothing had happened, ** And now tell me 
what you have got to say." 

An hour later, when the statesman left, he carried away 
with him the monarch's promise to issue, within twenty-four 
hours, a proclamation declaring the neutrality of Holland. 

The drawing-rooms, music-room and dining-hall of the pal- 
ace are all furnished in a thoroughly English style, and are 
filled with beautiful flowering plants, lovingly cared for by 
the Queen Regent, who is very fond of gardening. Queen 
Wilhelmina's boudoir — one hesitates to call it a nursery, for 
the little lady is very proud of her twelve years, and considers 



426 Wltrtlf^ ROYAL i'ALACfig. 

herself very nearly grown up — is filled with a quantity of 
toys, among which are several dozen of beautiful dolls, 
dressed in gorgeous court dresses, and possessing such mar- 
vellous trousseaus that many a woman of fashion would envy 
the wax and bisque beauties. 

Among them is a huge one which she calls, perhaps with a 
touch of satire, "The Governess." She has doll figures of 
officers in the army and navy to familiarize her with the uni- 
forms of the various corps, and a whole gallery of Court 
ladies in miniature, for each one of which she has a pet name. 
This collection of "official dollies " must have cost the Dutch 
nation a pretty penny. 

The Queen is an early riser, and is up and dressed by 
seven o'clock. As soon as she is ready she enters her 
mother's room and says her prayers by the Regent's bedside. 
Breakfast is served at eight o'clock, and from nine till twelve 
the royal child takes her lessons, plays on the piano and 
reads aloud. At twelve she comes down to luncheon, which 
for her is generally composed of eggs, milk and fruit. Hardly 
has she swallowed the last mouthful when she dons her fur- 
Hned jacket and cap, and runs out to a httle chalet called the 
pigeon-house, where she keeps one hundred and fifty mem- 
bers of the cooing tribe, feeding them and caring for them 
herself. These and a funny-looking and very shaggy Shet- 
land pony are her great pets, and she is so devoted to them 
that should the handsomely dressed dolls find it out they 
would have good cause for jealousy. She goes out whether 
the day is fine or cloudy, cold or warm, and takes a ride 
every afternoon on the fat litde pony, whom she knows how 
to urge into quite a lively gallop. Dinner takes place at six 
o'clock, and afterward the Queen and her mother have a chat 



I 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF HOLLAND. ^21 

until eight o'clock, when Her Majesty is sent to bed. The 
child is very intelligent, and from being continually her 
mother's companion has a way of talking and judging things 
which is far above her years ; she is a pretty, winning girl, 
with a happy look in her great blue eyes, and almost always 
a smile on her fresh young lips. 

The jewels and plate owned by the little Queen Wilhel- 
mina as Sovereign of the Netherlands are kept, not at the 
Chateau of Het-Loo, but at the Royal Palace of The Hague. 
Among the most splendid features thereof is a huge mirror, 
contained in a frame of pure and exquisitely chiseled gold. 
It used to belong to Queen Anna of Holland, and was pre- 
sented to her at her marriage by her brother. Czar Nicolas of 
Russia. The gold dinner service, representing a value of 
almost ^5,000,000, is, curiously enough, adorned with the 
Royal arms of England, having been formed by the Prince of 
Orange, who ruled over Great Britain as King William III. 

The treasury likewise contains an absolutely priceless ser- 
vice of old Saxe porcelain, comprising some forty eight pieces, 
the remaining twenty-four constituting one of the most highly 
valued features of the Czar's treasury at St. Petersburg. 

Should Queen Wilhelmina die, either in childhood or with- 
out marrying, she would be succeeded on the Dutch throne 
by her father's only sister, the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, 
who has two daughters, one married to Prince Reuss, German 
Ambassador at Vienna, and one son, a General in the Prus- 
sian service, who has two boys. Her husband, the reigning 
Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, is one of the youngest looking 
men of his age in Europe. The only brother of the late 
Empress Augusta, of Germany, he is one of the few living 
links with Goethe, having almost completed his fourteenth 



^23 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

year when the great poet died at Weimar, in 1832; and it 
was to him, then six months old, that Goethe alluded in the 
"Maskenzug," in honor of the visit of his grandmother, the 
Dowager-Empress of Russia, the lines : 

" Nun aber an die Wiege. Diesen Sproszling 
Verehrend, der sich schnell entwickelnd zeigt, 
Sein Leben sei Lustgesange 
Sich und den andern Melodic." 

The poet was a prophet. Highly cultivated himself (and it 
is no secret that Goethe had much to say in the question of 
his education), the Grand Duke has fostered art in every form ; 
but he has favored music more especially, and thought it an 
honor to his State that Liszt lived and died in his capital. 

The Grand Duke is grandson of Goethe's lifelong friend, 
Karl August, His mother was the Grand Duchess Marie 
Paulowna, sister of the Czars Alexander I. and Nicolas. His 
wife's mother was another sister of the above-named Czars, the 
Grand Duchess Anna. Besides being greatly esteemed and 
beloved at St. Petersburg, the Grand Duke is one of the 
steadfast friends and supporters of Prince Bismarck, and has 
refrained from visiting the Court of his grandnephew at Berlin 
since the ex-Chancellor's disgrace. 

Queen Wilhelmina's mother, who now rules over the 
Netherlands as Regent, during her daughter's childhood, is 
the eldest daughter of the reigning Prince of Waldeck- 
Pyrinont. 

She was born in 1858, at Arolsen, the capital of her father's 
miniature State, Waldeck. Three daughters and one son 
formed the family circle ; they were carefully, simply and 
religiously educated, and their kindly ways endeared them to 
the handful of subjects who owned their father's sway. In 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF HOLLAND. 



423 



her girlhood Queen Emma was not strictly pretty, but she 
had a winsome expression, soft eyes and an abundance of 
hair. But few suitors had made their way to Arsolen to seek 
the hand of that dowerless Princess, when one day there 
arrived at the 
castle the eld- 
erly, widowed 
and next to 
childless King 
of Holland to 
ask the girl in 
marriage. 

The offer 
was dazzling, 
but there was 
much in the 
conditions at- 
tending it to 
repel a young 
girl. The King 
was a widow- 
er, nearly three 
times her age : 
the unhappi- 
n e s s of his 
first marriage 

was an open secret. Everybody knew that he and Queen 
Sophia, a Princess of the Wurtemberg family, endowed 
with fine qualides of head and heart, had lived a wretched 
existence, and that the blame of this unhappiness could not 
be said to rest with Queen Sophia. She had, it is true, a 




THE QUEEN REGENT. 



424 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



great love of letters, and had striven to make the Palace 
of La Haye an intellectual centre. She had a keen inter- 
est in politics. 

The King, on the other hand, cared for nothing but his own 
pleasure, and loathed everything connected with Court eti- 
quette or politics, as being unwelcome hindrances to his 
purely pleasure-seeking existence. For ten long years this 
ill-sorted couple lived at daggers drawn, and when, in 1849, 
William succeeded to the throne of the Netherlands, the 
discord which subsisted between William and Sophia divided 
the Court of The Hague into two separate camps, known as 
*' le parti du Roi" and ''le parti de la Reiney 

In 1887, Queen Sophia died, leaving two sons, the eldest, 
" Prince Citron," who was already at the time in a state of semi- 
imbecility, brought on by dissipation, and Prince Alexander, 
who was a cripple, and afflicted with certain hereditary physi- 
cal and mental ailments, which left but small prospects that 
he would ever be able to succeed to the throne of his father. 
Both of these unfortunate Princes died shortly after their 
mother, and now lie buried in the modern portion of the 
royal vault at Delft, beneath the monument of William the 
Silent. The younger of the two. Prince Alexander, is, I 
suppose, the only male member of any royal family who has 
been buried dressed in feminine garments. Among the 
numerous eccentricities of the latter portion of his semi- 
demented life, was that of declining to wear the nether gar- 
ments peculiar to ihe male sex, and he was accustomed to 
array himself in orange satin-quilted petticoats. In accord- 
ance with his express instructions he was laid in his tomb 
arrayed in one of these fantastic petticoats, and I presume that 
when in ages to come the royal vaults at Delft are explored 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF HOLLAND. .^j. 

by the arch^ologists of the thirtieth century, it will be taken 
for granted that the remains in question are those of some 
Princess rather than of some Prince of the House of Orange. 
Close beside the tomb of Prince Alexander is that of his 
father, the old King, while surrounding them are the bodies 
of the members of the House of Orange, who have djed 
since the creation of the kingdom of the Netherlands at the 
beginning of the century. The old vault, which is likewise 
beneath the monument, contains only the remains of William 
the Silent, of his wife and of his two sons. 

Moreover, up to the date of the King's second marriage, 
his morals were of such a nature as to preclude all possibility 
of a happy home life. While as King he may be said to 
have done much to promote the welfare of his subjects, even 
to the extent of surrendering half of his civil list accorded 
to him by the State, yet as far as his personal behavior was 
concerned, his name will remain on record as that of the most 
profligate and depraved monarch of the nineteenth century. 
His private and domestic life consisted of one long and un- 
interrupted series of disreputable scandals, most of which, 
however, occurred beyond the Dutch border. 

Among those who played a prominent role in the shady 
side of his existence were Mme. Elisa Musard, who was an 
American by birth, and whose relatives still reside in Penn- 
sylvania ; the beautiful Mile, Abington, of the Paris Varieties 
Theatre ; and lastly. Mile. Emilie Ambree, a star of the Italian 
Opera at Paris, and the author of the novel " La Diva," in 
which a number of famous people are made to figure in an 
unenviable light. 

Of these three women in question, Mme. Musard, although 
possessing millions of money, died at the age of forty, blind 



426 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



and raving mad, in the insane asylum of Dr. Blanche, of Paris. 
Emilie Ambree, who spent the vast sums lavished on her by 
her Royal admirer as quickly as she received them, is now 
living in obscure and impoverished circumstances in a village 
of Brittany ; while Mile. Abington, who was as beautiful but 
not so clever as the other two literally died in the gutter a 
few years ago. 

King William's intimacy with Mme. Musard, which came 
to an end in 1870, was for many years surrounded with an 
amount of mystery which gave it a certain coloring of 
romance. Several times during the course of the year, M. 
Alfred Musard, who was by profession a conductor of or- 
chestra, used to take his beautiful wife to the Dutch frontier, 
where she was met by an emissary of the King, who took her 
in a post-chaise to a small house buried in the depths of the 
forest. There she was joined by her middle-aged royal 
friend and remained two or three days in his company. 

The King loaded her with presents of all kinds, and when 
she returned to her husband, she handed these gifts with 
praiseworthy generosity to him. In this fashion, diamonds, 
pearls, sappiiires, rubies, valuable plate, pictures, laces, etc., 
found their way to the superb residence of M. and Mme. 
Musard, in the Avenue d'lena, ; 

The luxury displayed by this worthy couple in those days 
was amazing, Mme. Musard' s diamonds were of European 
renown, her horses and equipages excited the admiration of 
all Paris, and when she appeared in her box at the opera, 
clothed in sumptuous raiment, and covered from head to foot 
with jewels of untold value, she was the cynosure of all eyes. 

In the course of a few years Mme, Musard found means to 
purchase the splendid Chateau of Villequier, on the banks of 



1 HE ROYAL FAMILY OF HOLLAND. ^27 

the Seine, likewise a villa on the lake of Como, which had 
been built by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and a marvelous 
chalet at Trouville, on the shores of the sea. 

Mme. Musard's beautiful face was one of the most admired 
as she drove in the Bois de Boulogne, reclining in her 
marvelous equipage, during the second empire, and the 
generosity of King William was on every lip. 

When the enchantress deemed that her fortune was suf- 
ficiently enormous, she fulfilled her most cherished dream, 
namely, that of living in retirement with her husband, whom 
she adored, in spite of her somewhat questionable intimacy 
with the King. She accordingly broke off all relations with 
her royal lover, who speedily replaced her by Mile. Emilie 
Ambree. 

In 1876, when that gallant Monarch was in mourning for 
his first Consort, a very charming Diva, Mile. Abington, who 
was, I believe, born in Algeria, made her appearance among 
the singers at the French Opera in Amsterdam. The fame 
of her fascinations reached the widower, who was living in 
retirement at The Hague, and though His Majesty could not 
go to hear her at the opera just then, it was thought there 
could be no objection to her div^erting the grief-stricken 
mourner by a little music on the quiet at home. The fair 
prima donna, therefore, came, sang and conquered ; and from 
being a star on the theatrical horizon, speedily became the 
"rising star" at Court. In fact, her influence became so 
rapidly ali-powerful that when the Exposition of 1878 was 
under way at Paris, the Dutch King made up his mind to 
occupy one of the magnificent mansions in the Champs 
Elysees, with his beautiful favorite at his side to preside over 
the establishment. 



428 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



But he proposed to do this out of his own private purse^ 
instead of from his Royal revenue as Sovereign of the 
Netherlands, and for this purpose he deemed it necessary to 
raise a loan of two millions of guldens. The commission was 
entrusted to one M. de Soolen, who was also authorized to 
choose the mansion at Paris. 

For reasons best known to himself, King William absolutely 
forbade ■ any negotiations with the bankers of France or of 
Holland, and M. de Soolen was in the act of preparing for a 
journey to London to arrange the matter with the English 
financiers, when an imperative message summoned him to the 
presence of the fair Algerienne, who was already located in 
the French capital. He repaired at once to the hotel in the 
Rue de Clichy, where she was installed with the utmost mag- 
nificence, and where she received him in a gorgeous Oriental 
costume. He found her brimming over with confident assur- 
ances that the King was about to marry her. His Majesty 
had already demanded of his Dutch Ministers that she should 
be ennobled, and when they refused to do this, had given 
positive orders to the same effect to his Viceroy of the Grand 
Duchy of Luxemburg. In fact, she was then in triumphant 
possession of the documents creating her a Luxemburg 
countess, and had already bedizened her carriages with coro- 
nets and the newly-chosen device, "■Fiat voluntas mea T 

M. de Soolen was so astounded and disgusted with what 
he heard and saw, that apprehensions arose in his mind as to 
what would become of the Dutch Crown if the mesalliance 
were really to take place, and when, the following Sunday, 
she invited him to spend the afternoon at a chateau lent to her 
by the King, at Bellevue, near Meudon, and found that the 
place had been adorned for her reception with priceless art 



tttfe RoVaL FAlvtiLV of" HOLLAND. .^^ 

429 

treasures from the Royal residences in Holland, his indicrna- 
tion rose to a great height. Moreover, in the midst of these 
splendors of the King's providing, he found domesticated 
there an old acquaintance of his, a certain M. de B — , one of 
the best known and gayest bachelors of the French capital, 
who was, in fact, so much master of the situation, that he 
evidently reigned paramount over the entire establishment. 

Meantime the financial negotiations progressed apace ; and 
at the close of 1877, M. de Soolen was summoned to The 
Hague, where the King, while urging him to carry through 
money matters with despatch, expressed himself with the 
greatest satisfaction as to what had already been accomplished, 
and actually gave him a document with full authority for rais- 
ing the loan in England. 

While at The Hague, many of the principal personages of 
the Court, including the King's brother, Prince Henry, en- 
deavored to get information from M. de Soolen about the 
King's latest infatuation, and having obtained an inkling of 
her matrimonial aspirations, consulted with him as to the best 
means to avert the projected union. 

While they were all quietly putting their heads together 
about the affair, the King sent some of his attendants to show 
M. de Soolen the presents his beloved Countess had sent to 
him for his New Year gift. They consisted chiefly of Ori- 
ental costumes, from Tunis and Algiers ; but there was also 
a photograph of the chateau de Bellevue, Meudon, with a group 
of its occupants on the balcony. Taking it up to examine, 
M. de Soolen perceived, in the corner of the window, a splen- 
did youth in an embroidered vest, whose face he immediately 
recognized as that of his friend, M. de B — . While he was 
gazing in sheer astonishment at the striking likeness, the 



m 



WttHIN ROYAL PAtACf §. 



Secretary of the Treasury pointed out the figures, saying, 
"Look, what good portraits they are, the Countess, her 
sister, and this, it is her brother, I presume?" "Her brother!" 
exclaimed M. de Soolen indignantly, *'B/le est bien bonne! 
It is M. de B — , her cavaliere servente !" 

On hearing of this the King's brother at once went to him, 
photograph in hand, and compelled him to hear the truth. 
The Monarch thereupon started off in hot haste by special 
train for Paris, arrived at the hotel in the rue Clichy, with 
two of his secretaries, in the middle of the night, and insisted 
on breaking open the doors and walking inside. There he 
found — well, His Majesty found M. de B — , comfortably 
established in the very room which he had proposed to occupy 
himself. 

The negotiations for the loan of two millions were at once 
broken off, as were also those in connection with the purchase 
of the mansion in the Champs Elysees. 

Soon afterwards the King, thoroughly disillusioned by his 
last affaire d'ccetir, took the advice of old Emperor William 
of Germany and contracted a marriage with Princess Emma 
of Waldeck-Pyrmont, who now governs Holland as Regent 
during the minority of her litde daughter. Queen Wilhelmina. 
The wedding took place in January, 1879, and during the 
remainder of his life the King may be said to have endeav- 
ored to redeem his questionable reputation, by living respect- 
ably and quietly with his young wife. Their child. Queen 
Wilhelmina, was born about a couple of years later, and the 
affection of the old monarch immediately centred upon the 
little girl, who has now inherited not only his throne, but also 
his enormous personal fortune. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 

KING OSCAR of Sweden is very tall and imposing- 
looking. Indeed, one might almost describe him as 
the most majestic monarch of Europe. With all that, he is 
the simplest and most unaffected of men, and, if the truth 
were known, would be far happier if the difficulty of driving 
his double team of Sweden and Norway — those two antago- 
nistic countries subject to his rule — were to leave him more 
time to devote to poetry, science and art. 

By every means in his power King Oscar tries to get at the 
real requirements of his people. He travels much in the 
provinces. He interviews both public and private person- 
ages ; he insists so far as in him lies on hearing the truth 
concerning all matters. He even often appears unexpectedly 
in the police-courts to hear the trials himself, and frequendy 
he exercises his Royal prerogative of pardoning if the 
offences be small. 

What distinguished the Swedish Bernadottes, and still dis- 
tinguishes all their descendants, is their domestic virtues and 
their family ties and affections. No one has contributed 
more to foster these than the present Queen. It was at the 
little Court of Wied that Prince Oscar first saw the woman 
who has been to him a true helpmate and loving consort. 
His meeting with her is told in his poem, "Mon Repos," the 
name of the Prince of Wied's family casde. In 1857 he led 
to his far mountain home his "Angel bright and good," the 

(431) 



43^ 



AVttritN ROYAL f ALACEI 



Princess Sophie of Nassau. A quiet, happy, retired life was 
that led by the young couple, the mother occupied with the 
cares of the baby boy, who the following year came to cheer 
their hearts and that of the delighted grandfather. 

Not long, 
however, was 
Prince Oscar 
allowed to live 
the life of a 
simple burgh- 
er. In I 8 5 9 
his father died, 
and his broth- 
er ascended 
the throne. As 
the new King 
was still child- 
less, it fell on 
Prince Oscar 
to fill the role 
of Crown 
Prince, and 
undertake all 
the onerous 
offices of that 
post, from 
which he never 
was relieved 

until his brother's sudden and unexpected death, in 1872, 
placed the crown upon his own brow. His poetic gifts 
hence had to rest a while, but only for a while. In the intervals 




KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



tHfe kOYAL FAMILY OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



433 



of business, in spare moments, Oscar Frederick is always 
ready to use his pen. His very real and simple piety, too, 
finds an outlet in his poems. The " Easter Hymn " can be 
worthily placed beside any of the Evangelical Church songs. 
A German translation of these poems was by the King's 
express desire dedicated to the late Emperor Frederick of 
Germany, as "the patron of the works of peace and 
humanity." ' 

When King Oscar passed through Biarritz last year, 
where Queen Natalie of Servia is now living, he paid her all 
those attentions and courtesies w^hich are part and parcel of 
his genial nature. Sorry for her loneliness, he called upon 
her at her villa, and on her returning his visit at his hotel he 
came down stairs with all his suite under the portico, to help her 
alight from her carriage, and kissed her in royal fashion before 
all who were assembled to behold the meeting, and then con- 
ducted her in doors with a most studied and stately deference. 

I need hardly say that, although King Oscar subsequendy 
spent a couple of weeks at Pans, he took no kind of notice 
of King Milan's presence there, and deliberately cut him 
when they met at the polo grounds at the Bois de Boulogne. 

It is, however, only natural that His Majesty of Sweden 
should have preferred kissing Queen Natalie, who is sdll a 
wonderfully beautiful woman, to the bloated and dissipated 
countenance of her morally and physically dilapidated ex- 
husband. 

Talking of King Oscar's kiss on Queen Natalie's cheek 
reminds me of a similar embrace of His Majesty, which gave 
rise to an almost equal amount of talk a few years ago. 

Being on a visit to Rome, he made arrangements for an 
interview with the Pope. He was received at the Vatican 

28 



434 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



with all the pomp and ceremony in the case of visits from 
reigning- monarchs. 

As he approached 
the Throne Room the 
venerable Pontiff 
came to meet him and 
extended his hand in 
greeting. 

A Catholic Mon- 
arch would have bent 
his knee and kissed 
the proffered hand ; 
Protestant Royalties 
who had previously 
visited him had bowed 
low before him. 

King Oscar, how- 
ever, who is about six 
feet four inches in 
height, entered with 
head erect, seized 
hold of the Holy 
Father's hand, shook 
it heartily, and then, 
stooping down, threw 
his arms around the 
fragile form of the 
Pope and imprinted 

THE QUEEN OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. IH rapid SUCCCSSlon 

three sounding kisses on his withered cheeks, just in the 
same manner as he is accustomed to do when visiting brother 




THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



435 



monarchs, whose sovereignty is of a temporal instead of 
spiritual nature. 

The horror of the prelates and courtiers in attendance on 
the Pontiff can be more easily imagined than described. The 
Pope himself, however, was much amused and took a great 
fancy to this Anak of European monarchs. 

The King wears well, and keeps the fine carriage for which 
he was remarkable as a young man. He has that expression 
of eye which sailors acquire from trying constantly to see 
what is on the horizon. During his last visit to France he 
was overwhelmed with attention by both the Government and 
the people. King Oscar's incognito was a real one in that 
instance. But it was somewhat dropped in his relations with 
the French Government, which were limited to receivinof, 
through the medium of General Brugere, then chief of the 
President's military household, the compliments of M. Carnot 
at the Paris end of the railroad by which he came from 
Biarritz, lunching with the President and Madame Carnot, and 
asking them to accept for their library the forty-nine volumes 
written by different members of the Bernadotte family since 
they went to fill the place of the Vasa. The Paris people were 
disappointed that he did not buy the bourgeoisie-looking house 
there wherein his ancestors sold curios and furniture and also 
practiced law as attorneys. It has no sort of character other 
than that of utter commonplace, and the King would rather, I 
dare say, prefer not being reminded of it. At the same time, 
the Bernadottes, since they went to live in Sweden, have 
never shown themselves ashamed of their recent elevatoin. 

King Oscar, when at Cannes, was invited to attend the 
meeting of the Grand Lodge of the Freemasons of France 
held to commemorate the bicentenary of the death of Elias 



43^ 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Ashmole, who died in London on the i8th of May, 1692. 
King Oscar is Grand Master of masonic lodges of Sweden 
and Norway, with which dignity he was invested on his 
coronation. The Order of Charles XIII. which is highly 
prized in Scandinavia, where Freemasonry is held in great 
honor, was specially designed for the dignitaries of the craft. 

It is a great mistake to believe that King Oscar is popular 
in his own country. He is hated in Norway, which aspires to 
become a repubhc, and regards the Crown as an incubus, 
while he is treated with downright disdain by the Swedes, 
especially by the nobles, who object to him both as a foreigner 
and a parvenu. Indeed, many of the great Swedish nobles 
absolutely refuse to go to Court, or in any way to pay him 
honor. They ignore him completely. 

King Oscar's grandfather was of bourgeois birth, being the 
French General Bernadotte, who was imposed upon the 
Swedish people first as Crown Prince, and then as King, by 
Napoleon I. His grandmother was a Marseillaise, a Miss 
Clary, and also of plebeian origin. Notwithstanding all 
this French blood in his veins. King Oscar is a thorough 
German at heart, and is proud of his alliance with Berlin. 

He is fond of good cheer, and a hard drinker, adding cognac 
to his champagne for the purpose of giving it a relish which 
he otherwise does not find in it. 

He lost a considerable portion of his large private fortune 
in the Panama Canal enterprise, in which he was persuaded 
to invest by M. de Lesseps, who flattered him into the belief 
that he was the most accomplished and scientific monarch in 
existence — far superior, in fact, to the late Dom Pedro, whom 
he resembles in many particulars. 

He is rather elegant, and presents an imposing appearance 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



437 



— though not on the photograph which he is accustomed to 
give away. For that portrait represents him dressed in full 
toggery of a general-in-chief and engaged in playing the piano ! 

I should add that King Oscar is very susceptible to the 
charms of the fair sex, and that he is accustomed to seek out- 
side his palace 
walls that feminine 
companionship 
which he does not 
and cannot possi- 
bly find in his wife. 
The Queen can 
only be portrayed 
in the words of a 
witty French diplo- 
matist, who de- 
scribed her as " the 
phylloxera of all 
gayety." 

She is not beau- 
tiful, and is much 
more devoted to re- 
ligious matters than 
to the festivities of 
court circles, on 
which account and the crown princess of sweden and NORWAY. 

because of her constant ill health she is not a favorite in so- 
ciety nor a congenial companion to the king. 

King Oscar was almost a chum of Colonel Staaff, a Swede, 
who wrote the best compendium of French literature that 
exists, for use of cadet schools in Sweden. 




438 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



In his young days the King was reported a universal 
genius, and took pleasure in the society of intellectual people 
of the earnest sort, but who could also be lively and enlivening. 
His eyes, by the bye, have a singular beauty of expression. 
The aeed Marechale Sushet, who was a near relation of the 
first Queen of Sweden, of the Bernadotte line, used to say 
that Oscar was the only one of the Empress Josephine's 
descendants who inherited her eyes. 

I particularly remember the first time when I had the 
pleasure of meeting His Majesty, Oscar II., who was then 
not yet on the throne. It was at a soiree. He was sitting 
down when I came into the room. When he rose, I thought 
he would never stop until his head went through the ceiling ; 
indeed, when once drawn up to his full height, he looked like 
Gulliver among the Liliputians. 

There was nothing bookish in him, although he was then 
always working in public libraries, record-ofifices, etc., and 
consulting authorities on Corneille, whose " Cid" was to him 
a fount of inspiration and a kind of Bible. I believe he translated 
it into Swedish. He has also written a book on military 
tactics, and a nautical poem (in which he relates his own 
recollections of cruises in a Swedish war ship). It may be 
said of him that he only wanted the frost of poverty to en- 
able him to rank among the distinguished authors of his time. 

A pretender to the throne of Sweden started up some time 
ago, to the disgust of the Royal Family. He gave out that 
he is the unfortunate Prince Gustavus, elder brother of the 
King of Sweden, who is supposed to have died from a fall 
from his horse during the military manoeuvres at Skone. 

There are many Swedes at -the present day who believe 
that in place gf having been killed Prince Gustavus was 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. .og 

merely put out of the way by his family because he insisted 
on marrying- a girl of obscure birth. The mysterious indi- 
vidual who claims to be the Prince is working on this popu- 
lar supposition, and declares that he was put away in Norway, 
whence he escaped in disguise. The pretender is residing 
in Gothland, and intends, it appears, to come shortly to the 
front. 

Nor is King Oscar the only monarch whose throne is 
assailed by pretenders, for the King of Denmark is in the 
same unpleasant situation. Two persons, a father and a 
son, who about two years ago arrived from Stettin at Copen- 
hagen with a trunk stuffed with documents, asserted that 
they could prove their descent in a direct line from the House 
of Oldenburg, and that they could have established their 
claim to the throne at the death of Frederick VII., if they had 
had the papers they now possess earlier. Father and son 
call themselves " Beck," which is the no7Jt primitif of the 
House of Gluckburof. Unable to obtain an audience from 
the King they moved heaven and earth to interest the 
authorities in their cause. Far from looking like impostors, 
the two pretenders have a most aristocratic appearance, and 
the father bears a striking likeness to the late Czar Alexander 
II. As to the son, he has all the details concerning the House 
of Oldenburg at his fingers' ends, besides being the very 
image of Prince Vladimir. 

The Crown Princess of Sweden, daughter of the Grand 
Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden, is very delicate, and it is 
considered extremely doubtful whether she will be able to 
take up a permanent abode at Stockholm for at least one or 
two years to come. The Crown Princess has not been in 
Sweden for a very long time, a§ she is threatened with 



.^o WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

pulmonary disease, which would certainly be rapidly developed 
were she to confront the bleak and harsh climate of Scan- 
dinavia. 

She is a very nice, good-natured and highly accomplished 
specimen of German blonde. She betrays that curious mixt- 
ure of simplicity and pride of bourgeoisie and of high 
breeding which distinguishes the Hohenzollerns. These traits 
she has inherited from her mother, who is the only daughter 
of the late Emperor William and the sister of late Emperor 
Frederick. 

The Crown Princess can scarcely be described as beautiful. 
There is a perceptible tendency on the part of her chin to 
drop a little from the upper part of her face, which spoils the 
haimony of the contour. Her eyes are soft and blue. They 
tell that a calm, contented and, on the whole, happy soul 
lodges behind them. It is a soul that takes to poetry, sen- 
timent, needlework and culinary studies. There are many 
such among the reigning families of Germany. 

Her character is well suited to that of her extremely tall 
husband, the Crown Prince. He too is dreamy and poetical 
and has more of the artist than of the philosopher in his 
composition. He is a fair poet, a first-rate musician and 
possesses a splendid bass voice. The King, his father, with 
a view of checking this tendency to poetical dreams, which 
developed itself at an early age, sent him when he was about 
nineteen to board with the humble pastor of an obscure village 
at some distance from the capital. The good man was 
instructed to eradicate all poetical ideas from the mind of the 
young Prince and allow him to run wild about the country in 
the intervals of study. 

Unfortunately the Prince did not run wild alone, He 



I 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. 



441 



became deeply enamoured, and sentimentally so, with the 
pastor's only daughter. 

So serious, indeed, did the condition of affairs become that 
the Court people were forced to procure a husband for the 
young lady and to send the Prince himself on his travels. 

It was during these 
peregrinations that he 
developed that fond- 
ness for the chase and 
for kindred sports that 
has won for him the 
reputation of being 
one of the foremost 
Nimrods in Europe. 
. Although he holds 
the rank of lieuten- 
ant-ofeneral in the 
army, he detests mili- 
tary life, and put off 
enterincr the service 

o 

as long as it was pos- 
sible to do so. 

I can scarcely de- 
scribe him as hand- 
some. His mouth has 
that kind of unfinished the crown prince. 

look about it which is remarkable in the Nassaus, from whom 
he is descended throuo-h his mother. 

In conclusion, I would add that the Crown Prince is 
quite rich, for not only does he receive a handsome 
allowance from the civil list, but he has also inherited a 




..r, WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

large fortune from his grandmother, Queen Desiree of 
Sweden. 

Prince Oscar of Sweden, the second son of King Oscar, 
who some years ago contracted a morganatic marriage with a 
Miss Munck, who was one of the maids of honor of his 
mother, the Queen, is evidently anxious to reUnquish and 
conceal his royalty more completely than he has hitherto 
been able to do under the title of Prince Bernadotte, which 
he assumed after his wedding, for he induced the Grand 
Duke of Luxemburg to confer upon himself and upon his 
wife the title of Count and Countess of Wisborg, and now 
he is known by that name, and has dropped the prefix of 
Prince to his name altogether. 

He lives very happily with his wife at Carlskrona, the great 
naval arsenal of Sweden. Their existence is unhampered by 
any of the ordinary impediments and attributes of royalty, 
such as gentlemen and ladies-in-waiting, armed guards, 
salutes, etc. 

The Prince, or as I should say the Count, is a very tall and 
handsome young fellow, who, like that other royal giant. 
Prince George of Greece, has distinguished himself on sev- 
eral occasions by saving the lives of others at the risk of his 
own. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

WURTEMBERG. 

THE King of Wiirtemberg is the first restaurateur of his 
kingdom ! He owns a cafe as well as the two most 
important restaurants in Stuttgart. One of the restaurants 
is called the Marcquardt, and is situated right opposite the 
Royal Palace, while the other and the cafe bear the name of 
Riesiof, and are located under the arcades of the Koeniesbau. 
He differs, however, from his predecessor in personal appear- 
ance and in his abstemiousness. 

The old King was not only exceedingly stout, but also 
remarkably gross in his tastes, as well as familiar throughout 
the kingdom for his gluttony. 

Somehow or other most of the royal personages with 
whom I have been brouo-ht into contact have been addicted 

o 

to the pleasures of the table. Thus the Czar of Russia is an 
enormous eater, and is capable of disposing of an amount of 
food that would satisfy three ordinary men. Young Emperor 
William, too, is a very big eater, and his proclivities in that 
respect are somewhat coarse. 

The Prince of Wales, on the contrary, is fond of delica- 
cies and refinements in the viands that are set before him, 
but he, too, requires an abnormal quantity thereof The 
amount of food that he devours during the course of a day is 
something perfectly astonishing. 

His breakfasts, which are generally rather late in the 
tnorning, are thoroughly English in their solidity an4 

(443) 



444 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



abundance. At two o'clock, that is, barely three hours later, 
comes an enormous luncheon, with all kinds of hot and cold 
meats, which, as far as quality and quantity are concerned, beg- 
gars description. I am sure that the average American 
housewife, who prides herself on providing sufficient viands 

for her table, would 
stao-o-er at the mere 
mention of the va- 
riety and the pro- 
portions of this post- 
meridian meal. The 
KingofWurtemberg, 
his household and his 
subjects are fond of 
" good food, good 
cheer, and plenty of 
both," as one of 
their bards has sunof. 
A well-told tale, be 
it ghostly, witty 
or wis e, has its 
proper place at all 
of Wurtemberg's 
feasts, private or 
public. At between five and six in the afternoon there is 
what is known as his afternoon tea, a strange name for such 
a meal, for it has none of the daintiness so inseparably asso- 
ciated with the same social institution in most of the United 
States. The love of the feast seems to predominate over all 
else, and consequendy the "tea" is decidedly a square meal, 
with liqueurs, pate de fois gra$, ^2.xid.-^\Q\\^^ and numerous 




THE KING OF WURTEMBERG. 



tHE Royal family of wurtemberg. ^a^. 

other edibles of the same character. The dinner follows 
at eight o'clock, and a heavy hot supper invariably forms the 
closing meal of the day. 

Nor is gluttony confined to the royal families of Eng- 
land and Germany, for it is also one of the most notable 
vices of the House of Bourbon. The young Duke of Or- 
leans, during his term of imprisonment in France, proved 
himself a worthy descendant of his ancestors. Among the 
latter was King Louis XVIIL, who toward the end of his life 
became so obese and fat that he was almost unable to walk. 

During the closing years of his life he was so d/ase that he 
ceased to appreciate any food but potatoes prepared in a par- 
ticular way by a chef who was as fat as himself. One night, 
as was not unusual with him, he awoke in the small hours 
with a craving upon him for the dish, and rising from his bed 
he waddled off to the apartment of the chef, whom he 
aroused with a suggestion that he should then and there pre- 
pare him his favorite article of food. 

The cook was nothing loth, for it was the King's most 
gracious custom to permit him to share in the consumption 
of the delicacy at these nighdy orgies. A dish of immense 
size was in due course prepared, and the King and the cook 
started fair, standing side by side, to consume it. 

"You will kill yourself if you eat as fast as that ! " ex- 
claimed the King between two mouthfuls. But the cook did 
not take the warning, and in five minutes he fell back dead 
at the Kinof's side. 

"There, I told him so!" ejaculated King Louis, as he 
pointed out the body with his fork to one of his chamberlains 
who had followed his master ; but he never for a moment 
desisted from the feast, and not only consumed his own share, 



446 



WITHIN ROYAL t»ALACES. 



but also that which had been left uneaten by the cook at the 
moment when he ceased to live. 

King Louis XVI. of France lost his life and that of his 
wife, Queen Marie Antoinette, because of his slavery to his 
appetite ; for they would have escaped at the time of their 
flight to Varennes had not the King insisted on stopping at 
an inn in order to devour a roast turkey, for which his stom- 
ach experienced an insatiable craving. 

Just as he was finishing the meal his pursuers caught him, 
and placed him, together with the Queen and his son, under 
arrest. They were taken back to Paris, where the boy died 
in the prison into which they had been thrown, and from which 
the King and Queen emerged only to appear on the scaffold. 

Another royal family, which is likewise famed for its powers 
of absorption of food, is that of Portugal. Dom Luis, the late 
King, was a heavy eater, and extraordinarily stout and 
ungainly. His son, the present monarch, however, possesses 
a girth still more voluminous, and is even a larger eater than 
his father. 

To return, however, to my subject, from which I have con- 
siderably wandered, I must say that the King of Wurtemberg 
is a man of keen intelligence and wit, and that since his acces- 
sion to the throne he has been doing all within his power to 
further the interests and the welfare of his people, who have 
grown greatly attached both to himself and to his beautiful 
consort. 

King William is one of the most simple-minded, anti- 
monarchical monarchs in Europe. Anti-monarchical because, 
though "a jolly good fellow," he has more than once, when 
Crown Prince, proposed to abdicate, and he would have abdi- 
cated had Bismarck still been in power. He is a keen sportsman, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF WURTEMBERG. 



447 



a magnificent rider and driver, and the supporter of all 
sporting and horse-racing associations in the south of Ger- 
many, for there is never a race meeting within reach that he 
does not attend. He does not go in state. He is absolutely 
indifferent to appearances, and walks around and amid the 
crowd on the race-course, talking to this man, chatting to that 
one, careless whether he is recognized as the King, only 
seeking to be friendly and affable to all. 

In 1868, immediately after the Austrian war was settled, 
the Emperor of Germany (then King of Prussia) decided 
that each of the three States — Baden, Bavaria, and Wurtem- 
berg — not then in the North German Confederation should 
send a certain number of officers to be drilled in Prussian 



regiments. 



In the First Reo-iment of the Potsdam Foot Guards there 
were five Wurtemberor officers, each attached to a leading 
officer and having to attend every drill, not to do anything 
of necessity themselves, but to watch and learn. King Wil- 
liam knew full well that in case of a war with France the 
Wurtemberg officers would be of little use for they were very 
careless and a beer brewery opening was considered of far 
more importance than drill, whilst a rainy day was always 
sufficient to stop military exercises for them. 

Two of these officers were attached to the second com- 
pany of the Potsdam Guards. One was Prince William of 
Wurtemberg, the other a captain, whose name is immaterial 
here. Prince William was accompanied by Rittmeister Graf 
von Zeppelin, who, under the pretext of being his aide-de- 
camp, was in reality his " governor " or chaperon in charge. 
Prince William was then a first lieutenant in the company. 

The captain of the secondcompany of the Potsdam Guards 



448 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

was Hauptmann von Stulpnagel, brother of the victor of Mars 
Latour, and who afterward became one of the most distin- 
o-uished generals in the German Army. The Prince was in- 
troduced to Von Stulpnagel by his uncle, Prince August von 
Wurtemberg, the commander of the corps, with the following 
remarkable words : 

'' I hope this young man will become a good soldier. He is 
nothing now. He will need to be watched closely." 

Von Stulpnagel said he was sorry that there was nothing 
for the young officer to do that day, but he would have to be- 
gin his new duties as soon as possible. He thereupon an- 
nounced that the next day there should be a sham fight, be- 
ginning at five o'clock in the morning, at which the Prince's 
presence would be required. 

The next morning broke cold and rainy, but this did not pre- 
vent the company from being present, including every officer 
and man except the Prince and one captain, a Wurtemberger. 
As soon as Von Stulpnagel noticed their absence he called up 
the sergeant-major and asked if he had seen them and given 
them the proper notification. The sergeant-major declared 
that he had. The sham fight was gone through and toward 
noon everybody returned to the barracks in Potsdam. The 
officers made at once for the mess-room to eet some break- 
fast. Whom should they see comfortably seated at a table, 
smoking and drinking beer, but Prince William and the 
captain above mentioned. 

Stulpnagel was much incensed and rushing toward them 
exclaimed: "What the devil — " He was interrupted. 

" Why, where on earth have you been this morning ? You 
are all mud and dirt !" 

" Allow me," said Stulpnagel, " to put that question to you. 
Where have you been ?" 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF WURTEMEERG. 449 

"Why, here in the mess-room." 

" Why were you not at the rendezvous ?" 

•'Surely you have not been drillino?" 

•• Indeed we have. You see from my appearance that I 
have. Why were you not with us ?" 

" Why ? because it was raining !" 

Evidently he could not understand any one going out to 
drill when it was raining. 

The Oueen of Wurtemberg* is a woman of considerable 
nerve and presence of mind, as well as very good-looking. 
Last spring her horses bolted while she was out driving at 
Stuttgart. 

Both the coachman and the footman were thrown off, 
whereupon the Queen climbed upon the box, and, bending 
down over the dashboard, managed to secure the reins, 
which were trailing on the ground, and finally obtained 
control of the frightened animals. 

Her lady-in-waiting was found unconscious from fear when 
the carriage was stopped, but she soon recovered, and, 
beyond a loss of one wheel of the carriage aud a few bruises 
sustained by the coachman and the footman, there was no 
harm done. 

This is by no means the first time the Queen of Wurtem- 
berg has given evidence of her pluck. About three years 
ago, prior to her husband's accession to the throne, she was 
driving with him to church at Ludwigsburg, when an unem- 
ployed saddler named Klaiber fired a revolver at the Prince. 

The bullet grazed the forehead of the Princess, and the 

would-be assassin was seized by passers-by before he had 

time to fire a second shot. The Prince and Princess stopped 

the carriage just long enough to see the man taken into 
29 



^ CQ WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

custody by the police, and then they drove off to church as cool 
and as unconcerned as if nothing had happened. 

The Queen is very popular, not only in her husband's king- 
dom, but also throughout Germany, and there are many who 
share her sorrow and disappointment at her marriage 
remaining childless. 

Both the King and the Queen much relished the change in 
their fortune which occurred through their accession to the 
throne, as during the lifetime of the late King their position 
was an unpleasant one in every respect. Not only were they 
on bad terms with the repulsive and debauched old monarch, 
but also with his imperious and masterful Russian wife, Queen 
Olga, who is now living in Italy. 

Although the late King of VVurtemberg left no legitimate 
children to succeed to his throne, yet there is a natural 
daughter of his who still survives. I scarcely imagine, how- 
ever, that she benefited very materially or financially by his 
death, for she is at the present moment an inmate of a pri- 
vate lunatic asylum near Cologne, where she was placed in 
consequence of a number of frauds and swindles that -she 
practiced on several bankers, money changers and tradesmen 
at Vienna. Indeed, she would inevitably have been sent to 
the penitentiary for a long term of years, had it not been for 
the interference in her behalf of the Wurtemberg Envoy at 
the Court of Vienna. 

Her mother was a janitress at Carlsruhe, and was for many 
years the object of the King's adoration. The name of the 
daughter was Beke, and, after being carefully and respectfully 
educated at one of the first schools of Munich, she ran away 
to Paris, where she entered the corps of demi-mondaines, and 
contributed during a time more than any one else toward the 
consolation of the exiled King Milan of Servia. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF WURTEMBERS. . -j 

Duke William of Wurtemberg, who is now heir apparent 
to the throne, is without exception the most battered scion of 
royalty in Europe. Born sixty-two years ago, he has during 
his long military career in the Austrian army been repeatedly 
wounded on many battlefields. Unlike most of the other 
officers of Royal and Imperial rank, who almost invariably 
escape without injury in the various batdes in which they 
participate, Duke William has found himself in the surgeon's 
hands at the end of almost every action in which he has been 
engaged. 

He was wounded in the war of 1848 ; again in the w^ar of 
1859, against France and Italy; in the war of 1864, with 
Denmark, and in the war of 1866 with Prussia ; while during 
the Bosnia-Herzegovina campaign he received also a slight 
injury. Not content with this, he has broken almost every 
bone in his body, from collar-bone to ankle, by accidents in 
either riding or driving. 

He is extremely popular among both the officers and the 
rank and file of the Austrian army, which he left in order to 
assume his duties as Crown Prince on the death of the late 
King. His old comrades recognized in him a true soldier, 
and recalled with satisfaction his great gallantry at the batde 
of Magenta, where, seizing the flag of the infantry regiment 
which he commanded, he galloped in front of his men right 
into the thick of the fray, a piece of bravery for which he 
was accorded the extremely rare distinction of the Maria 
Theresian Order. 

The Crown Prince of Wurtemberg is well acquainted with 
the United States, having spent a considerable time in this 
country for the purpose of visiting and inspecting the battle- 
fields of the Civil War. The only other royal personage 



A c2 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

now living who has been wounded on the battlefield is King" 
Humbert of Italy, who narrowly escaped death during one of 
the engagements of the war of 1859. 

A cousin of the present Czar was killed during the last 
war between Russia and Turkey. With these three excep- 
tions there is no record of any royal or imperial personage 
havinpf been either killed or wounded in battle since the be- 
ginning of the present century. 

I must not omit to say that King William of Wurtemberg 
has made himself very popular among his subjects by an- 
nouncing that he had finally decided not to demand an 
increase of his predecessor's Civil List, which amounts to 
$450,000 a year. The late King possessed a large private 
fortune, and Queen Olga is immensely rich in her own right, 
so they could get on very well ; but King William was quite 
in moderate circumstances before he came to the throne. 
The Prussian Civil List amounts to nearly $4,000,000 a year, 
that of Bavaria to $1,400,000, Saxony to $600,000, Hesse 
and Baden $250,000 each, and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to $180- 
000. The heir presumptive of Wurtemberg, Duke Albert, 
will be one of the richest royal personages in Europe, as he 
will inherit the enormous estates of his maternal grandfather, 
the Archduke Albrecht of Austria. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

SPAIN. 

SPANIARDS relate that when their patron, Saint James 
of Compostella, died and entered the Kingdom of 
Heaven, the Almighty, wishing to express His appreciation 
of the Apostle's righteous conduct on earth, offered to grant 
any petition he might then make. Being a thorough patriot, 
St. James began by invoking the Divine blessing on his 
beloved country, and then entreated that Spain might always 
be known as possessing the bravest men, the fairest women, 
the healthiest climate, the most fertile soil, and, lastly, a per- 
fect government. "Stop!" exclaimed the Almighty. "All 
your wishes shall be granted, with the exception of the last ; 
for, were I to accord you that one also, all my angels would 
leave Heaven and take up their abode in Spain." Has 
Providence at length determined to turn a favorable ear to 
St. James's final prayer, and is Spain at last, after all these 
centuries of misrule, to be blessed with a good, respected and 
stable government ? That is a question gravely preoccupying 
all those who take any interest in this nation. 

Don Alfonso XII. 's reign, successful notwithstanding the 
many difficulties with which he had to contend, appeared to 
open up a new and happier era in Spain, His premature 
death, in 1885, gave rise to doubts as to whether the Queen 
Regent would be able to hold the throne for her infant 
children. She has, however, up till now, succeeded beyond 

(453) 



^g^ WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

all expectations, and, by her remarkable tact and judgment, 
as well as by her blameless private life and devotion to her 
children, has won a large share of the hearts of the most 
chivalrous people of Europe. 

Unlike most of the people of her adopted country, she rises 
early, and is generally dressed and drinking her morning 
chocolate by seven o'clock. From that hour until ten she is 
devoted exclusively to her three children, the eleven and nine- 
year-old Princesses and the six-year-old King, being present 
during their bath and toilet, at their breakfast, their morning 
devotions, and arranging with their English, Spanish and 
Austrian governesses for the programme of the day. Sharp 
at ten o'clock she returns to her morning-room, a handsome 
apartment, the windows of which open out upon the precipi- 
tous declivity overhanging the River Manzuares by five hun- 
dred feet of solid rock, while in the far distance are to be seen 
the snow-capped peaks of the Guadama Mountains. The first 
of the great dignitaries to be received is the Grand Master of 
the Palace, the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who takes the Queen's 
orders for the day. Immediately afterward the Captain-General 
of Madrid, and the two field-officers for the twenty-four hours, 
call to make their report that " all is well," and to receive the 
''parole du jow^,'' or the password with which the guard is 
relieved. 

Every day at eleven^ excepting on Thursday, when the 
Queen-Regent presides at the weekly Cabinet Council, Her 
Majesty gives audience to two members thereof together, for 
the purpose of affixing her signature to the various decrees, 
patents and State papi-rs on which it is required. This curious 
custom, which prevails only in Spain, of always receiving two 
Ministers together, instead of one alone, or, at any rate, one 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. ^rj' 

at a time, was instituted by the lace King, in order that there 
might be no misunderstanding or misinterpretation possible 
with regard to any instructions which he might give during 
these daily interviews, and also with the object of preventing 
individual members of the Cabinet from takinor advantage of 
the occasion to put forward any personal claims or requests. 
At one o'clock luncheon is served, at which only the Queen 
Regent, her eldest sister-in-law, the Infanta Isabella, who 
lives in the Palace, the three children and their governesses 
take part. At two Her Majesty receives her private secre- 
tary, Count Morphi, who acted in the same capacity to the 
late King, and whose brother was for many years Spanish 
Consul at Philadelphia. Count Morphi, which is evidently a 
Spanish corruption of the familiar Hibernian patronymic of 
Murphy, is married to an Austrian lady, and is one of the 
most talented and enthusiastic amateur musicians of the 
present day. He is an elderly man, and so thoroughly de- 
voted to the wife and children of his former master, that his 
loyalty, his fidelity and, above all, his disinterestedness, have 
never been questioned. The ladies-in-waiting are received 
shortly afterward, and regularly at three the Queen goes out 
for a drive in the environs of the city, accompanied by the 
three children, the little King sitting beside her, and his two 
sisters opposite with their backs to the horses. The carriage 
is an ordinary open barouche, rather high on the wheels, and 
drawn by a pair of tall and handsome English horses. There 
is no military escort, not even the couple of equerries pranc- 
ing at each of the two doors, whom Queen Victoria seems to 
consider as beinof indispensable to a sovereign's carriao-e 
exercise ; only a piqueur, riding about ten yards in advance 
of the carriage to give notice of the approach of their Most 



45^ 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Catholic Majesties. In other carriages follow the lady and 
the grandee- in-waiting" and the children's governesses. On 
arrival at the park the entire party frequently alight, and 
while the grown-up people walk, the children romp and play. 
On one occasion while the little King was unwell, the 
Queen was driving alone with her brother, the Austrian 
Archduke Eugene, in the park. They had no gentlemen or 
ladies-in-waiting with them. As the carriage reached a some- 
what secluded portion of the park, the Queen caught sight 
of one of the park-keepers or guards falling to the ground 
in a fit of epilepsy. At once she caused the carriage to be 
stopped, hurried with the Archduke to the prostrate man's 
side, and bending down, took on her knee the poor fellow's 
head, for the purpose of preventing him from continuing to 
beat it against the ground. Acting in accordance with her 
instructions, her brother devoted himself to straightening out 
the man's thumbs, which, as in all cases of epilepsy, were 
bent in toward the palm of the hand, and clasped convul- 
sively by the other fingers. The footman hurriedly procured 
some water in his hat from a neighboring stream, and when 
the violence of the fit had at length passed away the Queen, 
after wiping the poor man's face with her own pocket hand- 
kerchief, caused her brother and the footman to lift him into 
the victoria. The footman entered the victoria beside him, 
to keep him from falling, and the man was thus driven to his 
house, where a sum of 500 francs ($100) .was received the 
same evening from the palace. Only on the following day 
did the good people of Madrid discover the true reason why 
the Queen should have been seen walking home from the 
park with the Archduke, while the royal carriage had passed 
on before, containing instead of its ordinary occupants two 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. ^r- 

men in livery, one wearing that of the royal stables, the other 
that of the parkkeepers. Those who have seen a strange 
man of the lower classes fall to the ground in a fit of epilepsy 
and dash his head to the ground, while foaming at the mouth, 
can appreciate Queen Christina's conduct on this occasion. 
But it is such acts as these, together with the fame of her 
immaculate purity, her honesty, her superiority to all intrigue, 
her common-sense and broad mind, and last, but not least, 
her devotion to her children, which have contributed to con- 
vert Christina from an unsympathetic foreigner into the most 
popular woman in Spain. All the women of the Peninsula 
experience a fellow-feeling that makes them wondrous kindly 
disposed toward her. Even the Republicans are compelled 
to respect and admire this excellent woman. 

After returning from her drive. Her Majesty devotes the 
time till half-past seven to giving audiences to the various 
persons who may desire an interview with her. She receives 
alone, seated in a kind of small salon, the visitor being con- 
ducted to the entrance of the room by the grandee or the 
lady-in-waiting, who sit together in the ante-chamber. As 
soon as the audiences are over the Queen hurries upstairs 
to the nursery to hear the children say their prayers and to 
bid them good- night before dressing for dinner at half-past 
eight. Generally there are about sixteen persons around 
the royal table at this meal, although when jolly, fat Queen 
Isabella is staying with her daughter-in-law the number of 
guests often reaches as high as fifty. The Queen walks into 
dinner in advance of the remainder of the company, to whom 
she merely courtesies low when passing through the room 
in which they have assembled to await her arrival. After 
dinner the Duke of Medina Sidonia takes the gentlemen off 



45S 



WlTHlK ROYAL PALACES. 



to the smoking-room, while the Queen, after chatting with 
the ladies present, sits down to bezique, or plays duets with 
her sister-in-law, Princess Isabella. Often, too. Count Mor- 
phi, the private secretary, gets up impromptu concerts, of im- 
provises himself the most brilliant morceaus. 



T-r-rjT?^ 




THE ROYAL FAMILY AT TEA. 



At half-past eleven the Queen, after kissing the Princess 
and courtesying to the remainder of the company, retires for 
the night. But before proceeding to rest she visits once 
more the nursery where the children lie asleep, in order to 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OP SPAIN. j rg 

kiss them a last good-night. Their room is immediately 
above that of Her Majesty, and access to the former can be 
reached only through the latter. Devoted and watchful 
mother that she is, she is determined to bar the way with her 
person to any danger or harm that might befall her little 
ones. 

By midnight the whole palace is wrapped in slumber, and 
the only persons sdll about are the " MonterosdeEspinosa," a 
body of men who since four hundred years ago have enjoyed 
the exclusive privilege of watching over the slumbers of the 
Kings and Queens of Spain. They are bound by tradition 
to be natives of the town of Espinosa, and to have served 
with honor in the army. One of them is on guard at the 
door of the sleeping apartment of each of the royal person- 
ages in the palace, and the remainder, armed with great hal- 
berds, promenade during the entire night, without muttering 
a single word, in the long corridors. Their service begins at 
midnight, the hour at which the gates of the palace are sol- 
emnly closed, and ceases at seven o'clock in the morning. 
Their fidelity to the person of the Sovereign is as traditional 
as their curious and ancient privileges. 

Queen Christina has succeeded in carrying out, to the in- 
tense disgust of her household, the reforms introduced by 
the late Duke d'Aosta, by which the viands coming from the 
royal table are retained instead of becoming the perquisites 
of servants, as was formerly the case. Wine, fruit, bonbons, 
pastry and any dishes left, as well as flowers and wax candles 
used for the Sovereign's table, were never allowed to appear 
again, and the result was an appalling amount of waste. 
Some of the servants were entitled to claim all the bottles of 
wine which had been uncorked but not emptied ; others, 



.460 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



those which had been brought up from the cellar but left 
untouched, whilst the wine that remained in the glasses, 
after the guests had risen from dinner, was bottled up 
carefully and sold by the footmen. The Court servants 
made open traffic of the imperial leavings, and the keepers 
of small hotels and restaurants bought from them fowl, 
fish and flesh, not to mention pastry, bonbons, fruit, etc. 

An incident which marvelously increased the Queen 
Regent's popularity was her sympathetic attitude toward the 
" cigarreras, " when the great Government tobacco factory at 
Madrid, which employed 1 2,000 girls, was destroyed by fire two 
years ago. The extent of this calamity will be understood, when 
it is stated that the families of the " cigarreras" depend almost 
entirely for support on the salary of sixty cents a day paid to 
the girls for making cigarettes, and that the utter destruction 
of the factory left them absolutely without means of existence. 

The conflagration was the most terrible that had ever 
occurred in Madrid, both in its magnitude and its appalling 
consequences. It was impossible to discover how the fire 
began, and when the fire department reached the place it was 
already too late to stay the progress of the raging flames, 
which had taken full possession of the entire building. 
Twenty-four hours elapsed from the discovery of the fire by 
the police, at three o'clock in the morning, before it was 
really got under control, and every vestige of the flourishing 
factory was leveled to the ground by that time. The 
"cigarrera" is one of the most picturesque features of the 
Madrilene life. She is proverbially good-looking, good- 
humored, and just as slangy and merrily impudent as the 
Parisian grisette, whom she resembles very much. Her 
attire, although coarse in texture, is well put on, and always 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



4$I 



includes a smart red, blue or yellow silk handkerchief, tied 
with exquisite art on her dark and silky tresses. Her step is 
quick and sprightly, and she is full of what the Spaniards call 
"gracia." Yet the pretty " cigarrera" is the most consci- 
entious little person in the world, working from early morn- 
ing till late at night to maintain her parents so long as she is 
single ; and when she marries, which she generally does at an 
early age, toiling away with redoubled energy to support her 
handsome, lazy husband, and subsequently her babies. 

Thousands of these interesting creatures were left entirely 
unprovided for by the fearful catastrophe, and all those who 
depended on them for their daily bread were threatened with 
absolute starvation. The authorities displayed a great deal 
of energy and also much sympathy with the sufferers, the 
Lieutenant-General of Madrid being on the ground even 
before the firemen. The Prime Minister and the Home Min- 
ister were not long in following, and all the high officials 
appeared, one after the other, on the scene of the conflagration. 
More than 10,000 people were crowded there watching the 
alarming progress of the flames, but all eyes and hearts turned 
in another direction when the cry was raised in the Calle-de- 
Meson-de-Paredes, "The Queen is coming." 

The poor little "cigarreras," who had been wringing their 
hands in despair, surrounded the royal carriage, weeping, 
cheerinor and blessinof their " Mother and the Mother of their 
children," as they call the tender-hearted Regent. The young 
Queen was very pale, and her delicate face was glowing with 
pity, as she stepped from her carriage and spoke words of 
comfort and hope to the sobbing girls. The scene was an 
indescribable one : the girls pressed forward, kneltbeforeHer 
Majesty, kissing her hands and the hem of her black dress, 



4^2 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



crying out that they knew she would save them and theirs, 
some of them holding up their children to her. 

The Queen herself was crying bitterly, and, when she was 
at last allowed to depart, she was followed by such blessings 
as it is seldom the good fortune of Sovereigns to hear. 

On the morrow a deputation, composed of fifty cigarreras, 
presented itself at the gates of the Royal Palace, for, as they 
said, they must thank the Queen for her kindness and implore 
her to help them out of their misery. The sentry on guard 
refused to allow the fair delegates to pass into the courtyard, 
and a violent discussion ensued, which was, however, cut short 
by the appearance on the scene of Senor Villalba, secretary of 
the Civil Governor. 

He sent word to the Queen that a deputation of the poor 
cigarette-girls was craving an audience from her. An order 
came almost immediately from Her Majesty that a represent- 
ative committee should be admitted to her presence without 
delay, and ten girls having been chosen, were conducted to 
the Queen's audience-room. They took with them a lovely 
little boy of six years old with great black eyes and curly 
hair, as a representative of the eighty-five orphans of dead 
cigarreras, who are cared for so tenderly by the Queen 
Christina in the Casa-de7Cidad (House of Charity) close by 
and which had narrowly escaped being also burned down on 
the night of the conflagration. 

Her Majesty took the little boy in her own motherly arms and 
kissed him several times, saying to his enraptured aunt, who 
was standing close to her, shedding tears of delight, " What 
a dear little fellow ; why, he is just the size of the King!" 
She had kind words for them all, and told them that she 
•would do all in her power to relieve their dire distress. They 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



463 



then proceeded to explain that what they wanted was a place 
where they might start their trade afresh, and Senor Villalba, 
speaking in the Queen's name, promised to have this request 
taken into immediate consideration. He added that the 
Regent had opened a subscription list for the relief of their 
^present numerous needs, and that she had headed it with a 
gift of 10,000 pesetas, which were to be forthwith distributed. 
At this announcement the girls, forgetting all questions of 
etiquette and social distances, overwhelmed Her Majesty 
with such passionate demonstrations of enthusiastic gratitude 
that she was almost overpowered. 

They showered kisses on her hands and dress, pressing 
around her with muttered blessings and thanks, and repeated 
the expressions of love and loyalty which had been poured 
upon her the day before. They then turned to Senor Villalba, 
and, as the Spanish newspapers had it at the time, this 
fortunate functionary received " grandes abrazos de las 
cigarreras," that is "great embraces from the cigarreras." 
This, of course, is only a form of speech, and the worthy 
secretary was simply cheered and thanked by the overjoyed 
girls, who at last left the Royal presence in a state of proud 
delight charming to witness. "You don't know how good 
our Queen is ! " they said to their companions waiting outside 
the Palace. " She is so simple and kind, just like one of our- 
selves ; it was all we could do not to take her in our arms 
and kiss her sweet face ! " 

One of the prettiest features of the interview was the 
speech delivered by Httle Felix Salazar to the Regent. The 
child, evidently not troubled by shyness, spoke calmly and 
collectedly, lisping out the words that had been taught him as 
unconcernedly as if he were talking to his own mother, He 



464 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



said : " Senora, I ask your Majesty for work for the cigarreras, 
because to-day there are over 2,000 htde children like me 
who have nothing to eat." 

The Sovereign replied to this by saying that she had already 
induced the Government to continue to pay the cigarreras 
their wages until some final steps had been taken to provide 
work anew for them. 

In the meanwhile the authorities had committed unknown 
to the Queen a slight blunder, which both the Sovereign and 
the cigarreras resented very much. Hearing that a body of 
over 2,000 cigarreras had surrounded the Royal Palace, they 
had sent a detachment of cavalry to keep order while the 
touching interview between the Queen and the deputation of 
girls was taking place. The offended cigarreras turned upon 
the soldiers and gave them "a piece of their minds," crying 
that they needed no keeping in order — which was true — and 
so much to the point were their arguments and vituperations 
that the cabalieros withdrew without a murmur, looking very 
sheepish and ashamed of themselves, and heartily glad to 
escape the sharp-tongued maidens, who regularly hooted 
them. Personally, Dona Christina has always had the affec- 
tion of her subjects, but the manner in which she behaved in 
this instance changed these feelings into positive adoration, 
and the effect throughout the country was beyond anything 
that can be said or written. 

I relate this here simply In order to give one more addi- 
tional proof of the electric current which exists between the 
young widowed Queen and the Spanish populace. In this 
respect Christina shows herself to be still a Hapsburg at 
heart, for no royal or imperial family in Europe is more be- 
loved by the lower classes than that of Austro-Hungary. 



J 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



465 



In all the years during which Queen Christina has now 
lived in Spain she has. been unable to accustom herself to be 
present at a bull-fight, and to this distaste must be attributed 
the unpopularity of which she suffered at the beginning of 
her reign. 

It is impossible to realize the popularity of bull-fighters in 
Spain. Notwithstanding their low birth and utter absence of 
education they are on terms of the utmost intimacy v/ith the 
greatest nobles of the kingdom. Whenever one meets them 
in the streets or in the cafes, they are always surrounded by 
a little court of admirers, often composed of the principal 
members of the most exclusive society of Madrid. One of 
them, Manzantina, who began life as a minor railroad em- 
ploye, has made $40,000 during the past two years alone, 
and may frequently be seen at the opera, irreproachably 
dressed, in the box of one of the Cabinet Ministers. 

Most people have read descriptions of the bull-fight itself, 
but few are acquainted with all the thousand and one details 
which precede and follow this traditional amusement of the 
Spaniards. 

The bulls, which cost $400 apiece delivered at Madrid, are 
most carefully bred on the immense stock farms or ganaderia 
of the Duke of Veragua, Count Patilla, and other great 
landed proprietors, who make a large amount of money 
thereby. 

Under the sole charge of the "pastor," a kind of superior 
cowboy, the bulls are allowed to run almost wild on the vast 
and torrid plains, where they constitute a source of great 
danger to everybody. When the time comes for sending 
them up to the capital, the selection is left entirely in the 
hands of the pastor. He begins by placing a series of 
30 



466 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



wooden stalls, joined one to another, so as to form a long 
corridor. One of the gentle and patient oxen which have 
been raised with the bulls is driven through, whereupon the 
latter follow of their own accord, and as soon as they are 
inside the sliding doors are closed. In this manner eight or 
ten bulls are easily caged in the afternoon, and are placed 
on an express train, so timed as to reach Madrid during the 
night. 

Both the pastor and several of the oxen accompany them 
to the city. The disembarkation on arrival at the railway 
terminus is always attended with much danger and difficulty. 
The stalls are opened on the square in front of the depot, 
and the bulls, exasperated by the railway journey, dash about 
the place in the wildest manner. Finally the pastor, assisted 
by his well-trained oxen, gets his cavalcade into something 
like order, and the whole troop dashes off at a gallop, headed 
by the oxen, the rear brought up by the mounted pastor 
armed with a lance. Nothing can be more picturesque than 
these cavalcades by torchlight. On reaching the circus, the 
animals dash into the arena, whereupon the doors are closed, 
and the bulls secured in the great iron cages until the 
morrow. 

Of course, sometimes a bull manages to escape on his 
way from the depot, and careering through the streets pro- 
duces a regular panic among all those who should have been 
at home and in bed earlier. One of them managed to get 
away a short time ago, about one o'clock in the morning, 
tossed an old lady into the air, disemboweled a lamplighter, 
and finally seeing lights in a cafe, thrust his head through 
the windows and glared at the terror-stricken people who 
were playing at cards and dominos. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



467 



On the following morning the apartadoor selection takes 
place. The various espadas assemble, and then, according 
to seniority, each selects the particular bull which he is to fight 
in the afternoon. The choice is made with much care, for as 
the espada risks his life, he wishes to know as much as possi- 
. ble about the animal he is to encounter, which is thereupon 
' decorated with cockades of his colors. By midday the apart- 
adoor is finished, and the espadas return to the city to dine 
and dress for the ceremony, which invariably takes place at 
four o'clock. 

About an hour before that time, they reappear at the circus, 
accompanied by their attendants and by two priests, carrying 
with them, hidden away in a bag, the viaticum and extreme 
unction. Making their way to the little underground chapel 
adjoining the cages and stables, they all kneel in prayer, 
addressing a kind of morituri te sahciant to the Almighty, 
while overhead the vast building is being quickly filled by a 
joyous, noisy crowd, numbering over 10,000 persons. 

Sharp at four o'clock, a bugle call announces that the per- 
formance is about to commence, and the first espada, accom- 
panied by his banderillos, his picadores and his puntillero, all 
devoted to him, enters the arena, while the bull is let loose at 
the same moment. It is difficult to give an exact description 
of the actual combat, and, besides, so much has already been 
written on the subject. Before attacking the bull, the espada 
always makes a short speech to the principal personage 
present, who is bound to listen to it, standing, with uncovered 
head. 

Twenty minutes are allowed for each fight. If the espada 
does not succeed in killing the bull within the stated time, the 
life of the latter is spared, and the unfortunate man is hooted 



468 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



out of the arena. Between each fif^ht there is a kind of inter- 
act, during which the band plays, and the carcasses of the bulls 
and of the dead horses are removed. 

By six o'clock all is over, and half an hour later the bull- 
fight gazette, with a most amusing and caustic account of the 

performance, is being 
sold to the extent of 
30,000 to 40,000 
copies in the Madrid 
streets. During the 
remainder of the eve- 
ning the cafes and 
restaurants are full of 
holiday crowds excit- 
edly discussing the 
events of the day, and 
overwhelming with all 
kinds of attentions 
the heroes of the per- 
formance. 

Although so court- 
ed, so flattered, these 
espadas are, as a 
rule, good fellows, 
generous to the last 
degree, and, notwith- 
standing all that has 
been said to the contrary, rather moral than otherwise, 
as far as their home-life is concerned. Almost all of 
them are married ; as a rule, to very pretty women. 
Lucky fellows ! They have only to pick and to choose, for 




DON CARLOS. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



469 



the Spanish woman admires nothing more than true courage, 
and raves about the man who daily carries his hfe in his hand. 
As a rule, when once married, the wives do not attend the per- 
formance, but remain at home burning wax candles before the 
image of the Holy Virgin during the whole time the bull-fight 
lasts. 

Little King Alfonso, who has completed his sixth year, is an 
affectionate but mischievous boy. He is officially reported to 
take very kindly to his lessons, as, of course, all good boys 
should do. He already speaks Spanish, French and German 
fluently, and is beginning to learn English. He also shows a 
strong inclination for " manly" exercises suited to his age, and 
is busy acquiring skill in the use of a tricycle, the gift of his 
grandmother. He resembles his father very closely in per- 
sonal appearance, and also bears a strong likeness to the 
Bourbon Kings, Charles IV. and Ferdinand VII. His devo- 
tion to his mother is described as remarkable for his years, 
and he is kind to his sisters, even condescending to play with 
them at times. El Re Nino (The Baby King), as he is affec- 
tionately styled by his subjects, is a jolly, if somewhat delicate 
little fellow, fair and pale ; but he is occasionally more thought- 
ful for his age than other children are wont to be. His nurse, 
to whom he was passionately attached — Massimina Pedraja 
by name — returned to her home in the Asturian Mountains 
over a year ago, and lately wrote to her illustrious foster- 
child, begging him to be godfather to her newly-born son. 
The Queen Regent consented to this, much to the delight of 
her son, who immediately sent the most magnificent presents 
to his new godchild. 

A-lfonso XIII. can when he pleases assume a dignified 
and serious bearing very amusing to witness in so small a 



470 



Within royaI palaces. 



child. During his daily drives, he returns the enthusiastic 
salutations of his subjects with much ease and grace, and 
takes especial delight when allowed to walk in the Park, in 
talking to the numerous children who swarm from all sides 
to gaze at their boy-king. Some time ago a curly-headed girl 
planting herself in front of the little King asked boldly, "Is it 
true that you are the King?" "Yes," replied Alfonso 
solemnly, "I am your King and the ruler of all Spain." On 
another occasion he became very much incensed at noticing 
a man who apparently stared fixedly at him without, however, 
removing his hat in low obeisance. His escort hastened to 
pacify him by explaining to the irate young sovereign that 
the poor fellow being blind was not aware of the Royal Pres- 
ence. "Oh!" exclaimed Alfonso, "then I must give him 
at once a great deal of money so that he may buy himself a 
pair of new eyes." 

Next to his nurse, the greatest favorite of the little King 
was General Don Juan Cordova, Chief of the Royal Body 
Guard and Commandant of the Palace, who died a few 
months ago. He had always been held in special affection 
by the tiny monarch, w^ho was wont to apostrophize the old 
soldier by the name of "Juanito" (my little John), on all 
kinds of occasions, sometimes causing considerable embarrass- 
ment thereby. 

Probably the most amusing instance of this kind took place 
in the grand old Church of the Attocha at Madrid, at a time 
when a solemn mass was being celebrated in honor of the 
Royal Child's birthday. Everybody of course was in full 
uniform, a circumstance which yrave intense satisfaction to the 
little King, who boy-like delights in everything pertaining to 
military pomp. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



471 



just at the most impressive moment — namely the elevation 
of the host by the Cardinal Patriarch of the Indies, who was 
acting as celebrant — young Alfonso spied out his friend 
General Cor- 
dova down in 
the nave of 
the Church, 
and unhesitat- 
ingly proceed- 
ed to hail him 
from the Royal 
Gallery i n a 
loud and shrill 
tone of voice 
with the 
words : " Juan- 
ito ! Oh, Juan- 
ito ! What are 
you doing 
there ? Come 
up here to me, 
I want vou at 
once," 

It was only 
with the great- 
e s t difficulty 
that the Queen 
was able to 
silence the 

child by telling him that it was wrong for anybody to speak 
aloud in Church. He evidently, however, took the lesson 




LITTLE KING ALFONSO XIII. 



,y2 ' WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

to heart, for two weeks later he suddenly called out to a 
bishop who was preaching grandiloquently from the pulpit, 
to hold his tongue and be quiet, seeing that it was wrong 
to make so much noise in Church ! 

Nothing is more curious at the Royal Palace at Madrid 
than the extraordinary and almost paradoxical mixture of a 
stringency of court etiquette dating back to the days of 
Emperor Charles V. on one hand, and on the other a leaven 
of democracy which would not even be tolerated at the White 
House in Washington. The gates and doors of the Palace 
are open to everybody during the daytime, and with the 
solitary exception of Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, 
there is not a sovereign so easy of access even to the hum- 
blest of her subjects as the Queen Regent of Spain. 

Nowhere, nevertheless, have the old formalities and cere- 
monies of the Middle Ages been more completely retained 
and maintained than at the Madilene Court, where the utmost 
gravity and solemnity of demeanor even in the most trivial 
functions and ceremonies are regarded as indispensable. It 
is therefore very amusing to imagine a little six-year-old boy, 
full of mischief and merry deviltry, with no respect whatso- 
ever for anything or anybody, brought in among all the 
grandees and super-dignified hidalgos at one of the great 
Court functions, at which he appears in an ordinary Fauntle- 
roy costume of black velvet, without any emblem of his rank. 
His mother, the Queen Regent, is kept on pins and needles 
the whole time, and whenever there is a diplomatic reception 
or a function at which the foreign envoys are present she 
invariably entreats the Grand Master of Ceremonies to keep 
both the Chinese Ambassadors and the Negro Minister from 
the San Domingo Republic as much in the background as 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN- 



473 



possible, and out of sight of the Httle King. The latter on 
these occasions is in the habit of devoting his august and 
royal attention not to the diplomatic representatives of the 
most important and powerful foreign governments, but to 
those who have the most striking and gayly embroidered 
uniforms, and who present the most picturesque and out-of-the- 
ordinary appearance. 

The young monarch has lately been intrusted to the care 
of a very charming and cheery young prelate, Monsignor 
Merry del Val, who is a brother of the Spanish Ambassador 
at Vienna. The right reverend gentleman very prudently 
makes no attempt to check the wonderful flow of animal 
spirits of the King, but merely directs them as much as pos- 
sible into a channel befitting a monarch who is addressed on 
state occasions as "Your Most Catholic Majesty." 

The early portion of the summer is always spent by the 
Queen Regent and her children at Aranjuez. The palace, 
though standing high and surrounded by verdure and run- 
ning streams, is rather a poor residence, built by Charles IV., 
in the French style. The grounds, however, remain much 
as they were when Philip II. laid them out and Velasquez put 
them on canvas. Owing to the presence of water and trees 
the Spaniards look on Aranjuez as a terrestrial Paradise, and 
the boy King rejoices in the place because he has his garden 
all to himself with a tiny brook, miniature walks, and beds 
of all sorts of flowers. For the Queen Regent the chateau 
possesses a melancholy interest. In 1884 her husband, 
Alfonso XII., ran down there surreptitiously to visit the 
cholera patients during a terrible outbreak of the epidemic. 
He lunched in the palace, and noticing in the middle of the 
repast that there were thirteen at table remarked, half in 



My» WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

jest, "Gentlemen, a year hence one of us will be missing." 
Ten months later the King had passed away, and his succes- 
sor was not born until the following spring. 

The little fellow's life at San Sebastien, the seaside resort 
in the north of Spain, where the Court invariably spends the 
latter portion of the summer, is a singularly happy one, and 
he enjoys far more freedom and liberty of action there than 
at Madrid. Every morning, punctually at eight o'clock, when 
the guard is relieved, he steps out on the low and spa- 
cious balcony of the Duchess of Bailen's chateau, where the 
royal family resides, in o.der to listen to the music of the 
regimental band. There is always a crowd of children as- 
sembled to see him appear, and, as he knows many of them 
personally by name, he leans over the balcony to talk to 
them, and the quaintest kind of conversations ensue. 
They are generally interrupted by a tap on the window, on 
hearing which the little King cries: "Adios, au revoir ; I 
must go in ; mamma is waiting for me." Shortly after nine 
he appears on the sands escorted by his governesses and a 
couple of footmen, and plays around in the most thoroughly 
democratic manner with his sisters and other children of his 
acquaintance. At twelve o'clock, after having dug, and 
romped and paddled about barefooted in the water to his 
heart's content, he returns to the chateau for luncheon, and 
on his arrival the palace guard turns out and the bugle 
sounds, a noise which His Most Catholic Majesty often at- 
tempts to imitate. At five o'clock he goes out for a drive, 
and as he comes down the steps to the carriage the royal 
halberdiers range themselves, one on each step, on either 
side of the stairs. As soon as he is seated in the carriage 
he turns to Colonel Loigorri, the chief of the halberdiers, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. Ayt 

and in obedience to the instructions which he has received, 
exclaims with the utmost gravity: "Let them retire." At 
eight o'clock the litde fellow is put to bed, his mother being 
invariably present to say his prayers with him and to kiss her 
" Bubi," as she calls him, good-night. 

He is never so happy as when playing pranks ; some of 
them throw the entire Court into a state of consternation. Thus, 
a short time ago, the young King was playing in the garden 
with his two sisters, when suddenly he disappeared. He fre- 
quently amuses himself by hiding, and hence the two little 
Princesses, as usual, searched the neighboring bushes and 
shrubs for the little Monarch. 

Not finding him, they became frightened, and informed 
their governesses of their brother's disappearance. The 
search of the governesses proved just as fruitless as that of 
the little girls, and at length a general alarm was sent out. 
The whole palace was in an uproar, and the Queen Regent 
almost distracted with fear. Rumors that the young King 
had been kidnapped by either Carlist or Republican conspira- 
tors were rife for a time. 

Finally, after almost two hours' search, King Alfonso was 
found on the stage of a kind of garden theatre, where panto- 
mimes are occasionally given during the sojourn of the Court 
at Aranjuez, for the amusement of the Royal children. His 
diminutive Majesty had discovered a clown's dress, which he 
had donned as best he could, and, standing alone on the 
stage, was rehearsing before the empty benches, usually 
occupied by the audience, a species of pantomime of his own 
composition, but based on the lines of those which he had 
already seen. 

This is only one of the many similar pranks by means of 



47^ 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACfeS. 



which he keeps both his mother and his attendants in con- 
stant anxiety. He may be described, indeed, as the most 
mischievous of all the monarchs now in possession of Euro- 
pean thrones. 

Queen Christina has many magnificent jewels. There is 
one of these, however, which she never wears. It may be 
seen hanging to the neck of the Statue of the Virgin of 
Almudena, the patron saint of Madrid, in the church of the 
Attoccha. The jewel bears a curious connection to the mis- 
fortunes which have afflicted the royal house oi Spain during 
the last two decades. It is a magnificent opal surrounded by 
diamonds and of enormous value. The late King, Alfonso 
XII., gave it to his cousin Mercedes when he was betrothed 
to her, and she wore it durinof the whole of her short married 
life. On her death the King presented it to his grandmother, 
the Queen Christina, who died soon after. Then it passed 
to the King's sister, the Infanta del Pilar, The latter at once 
began to sicken, and in a few days breathed her last. Al- 
fonso then handed it to his sister-in-law, Christina, the 
youngest daughter of the Duke of Montpensier, but in 
three months she also was dead. His Majesty now resolved 
to retain the baleful jewel in his own keeping ; but he, too, 
soon fell a victim to its mysterious malignancy. By order of 
the present Queen it has now been suspended by a chain 
around the neck of the Virs^in of Almudena. 

Every Good Friday the Queen while at vespers solemnly 
pardons a number of criminals lying under sentence of death. 
This ancient custom, which has been in use in Spain since 
the fifteenth century, dates back to Mosaical times. The 
Hebrews were in the habit of releasing a prisoner at Passover 
in memory of their deliverance from Egypt, the popular 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



477 



choice at the time of the crucifixion lying between Christ and 
Barabbas. " Their Most CathoHc Majesties " — for that is the 
correct title of the rulers of Spain — adopted a similar custom 
for the celebration of Good PViday. Until the reign of Queen 
Isabella II. only one sentence was remitted. Several papers 
were, however, prepared and folded, each one containing a 
name. These were placed promiscuously on a large silver 
plate and that criminal was reprieved on whose paper the 
royal hand rested, the others obtaining no benefit. The 
anxiety of all those whose names were given in for this pur- 
pose and the bitter disappointment of the unsuccessful may 
better be imagined than described. Soon after Queen Isa- 
b( 11a II. came to the throne a royal assembly was gathered in 
the Court chapel on Good Friday. The time of the adoration 
of the cross had come. The young Queen knelt before the 
crucifix, the salver with several papers was presented, and 
all watched for Her Majesty to touch one and repeat the 
traditional words: "Yo te perdono, yasi Dios me perdone." 
(May God pardon me, as I pardon thee.) But with tears in 
her eyes and a heart full of pity, regardless of tradition, she 
stretched forth both her hands, brought all the papers to- 
gether, and in a broken voice exclaimed: " Yo os perdono 
a todos, a todos, yasi Dios me perdone ! " (May God pardon 
me, as I pardon you all, all.) 

A very curious ceremony in Spain, the origin of which dates 
back to the reiorn of Charles V., is the "Almohada." It con- 
sists in conferring the highly-prized rank of grandee upon 
prominent members of the Spanish nobility. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that the mere fact of pos- 
sessing a tide in Spain carries with it, ipso-faclo, the grandezza, 
for, whereas the nobility of the kingdom includes no less than 



4/8 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



ninety-six Dukes, nine hundred Marquises, seven hundred and 
fifty Counts, one hundred and thirty Viscounts and seventy 
six Barons, the number of grandees does not exceed two 
hundred and forty-three. 

The ceremony of the "Almohada," which, literally trans- 
lated, means "the taking possession of the cushion," is as fol- 
lows : On the appointed day, the grandees who happen to 
be residing at the time in the city assemble in the small 
Throne-room of the palace and take their seats on carved 
stools, upholstered with crimson velvet cushions, which are 
ranged on either side of the room at right angles witli the 
Throne, the gentlemen being on the right and the ladies on 
the left thereof. Punctually at three o'clock the Queen 
Regent makes her entry in state, accompanied by her sisters- 
in-law, and attended by her Camarera-Mayor, or Grand Mis- 
tress of the Robes, by her Majordomo-Mayor, or Grand 
Marshal of the Court, and by other great officers of her 
household. As soon as she has taken her seat on the 
Throne, she turns to the right and left with a slight inclina- 
tion of her head, and, addressing the grandees present, 
exclaims : " Be seated." 

A moment afterward, the folding doors at the further end 
of the room are thrown open, and, preceded by a Chamber- 
lain and conducted by two grandees appointed to act as 
sponsors, the postulant for admission to the grandezza makes 
his appearance, and, after bowing profoundly three times — 
once on entering the Royal presence, once on reaching the 
centre of the room, and once on approaching the Throne — 
stands still and awaits her Majesty's orders, 

A stool and velvet cushion having been brought and placed] 
on the lowest step of the Royal dais, the Queen commands 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. Mjg 

that the candidate shall be seated, which he does with another 
low obeisance. Christina then addresses a few compli- 
mentary words to him, recalling the services rendered by his 
family to the dynasty in times gone by, and, after extending 
lier hand to be kissed, signifies her desire that he should 
a-sume his place among liis Peers. 

Retiring backward from the Royal presence, he is in the 
first place conducted by his sponsors to the side of the hall 
occupied by the ladies of the grandee rank, to whom he makes 
a low bow, and then to that of the men, whom he salutes in 
a similar manner. He thereupon puts his hat on his head, 
his example being instantaneously followed by every grandee 
Dresent, and all remain covered until his stool and cushion, 
having been removed from the steps of the Throne and placed 
beside those of his Peers, the newly-created grandee has 
seated himself thereon. 

The object which the grandees have in view in putting on 
their hats during this portion of the ceremony is to perpetuate 
and assert their ancient and traditional privilege of remaining 
covered in the presence of Royalty. It is they alone who 
represent the old blue blood of Spain, and from whose num- 
ber the great officers of the Royal household are almost 
exclusively selected. A grandee and a grandesse are daily 
in attendance on the Monarch as chamberlain and as lady-in- 
waiting, and almost as many nobiliary quarterings are required 
for admission to the grandezza as to the Sovereign Order of 
Knighthood of Malta. 

Another quaint Court ceremony which takes place 
on Good Friday at noon, in the Throne-room of the royal 
palace at Madrid, is that of the washing of the feet. This is 
observed in commemoration of Christ's washing the feet of 



480 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



the Apostles, Twelve old people are brought before the 
Queen, who, assisted by the Grand Mistress of the Robes, 
kneels before them in turn, and, dipping a richly embroidered 
silk towel in a gold basin, washes their feet. They are pre- 
sented with suits of clothes, purses of money and huge bas- 
kets of provisions at the conclusion of the ceremony, which 

all the members of the 
Court are invited to at- 
tend. 

The Princess Isabella, 
sister-in-law of the Queen 
Regent, and her most 
constant companion and 
associate, living with her 
all tlie year round at Mad- 
rid, Aranjuez and San Se- 
bastien, is without any ex- 
ception the most brilliant 
and clever member of the 
Spanish royal family. She 
is the eldest daughter of 
Queen Isabella II., and 
was born in 1851. Until 
the birth of her brother, 
the late King Alfonso, six 
years later, she held the 
title and rank of Princess of the Asturias, which, like that of 
Wales in Great Britain, is always borne by the heir-presump- 
tive to the throne. In 1868, a few months before her 
mother's forced abdication, she was married to Prince 
Gaetan, of Bourbon, younger brother of the ex-King of 




PRINCESS ISABELLA. 
The Queen Regent's Constant Companion. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 48 1 

Naples, and who was known by the title of Count Girgenti. 
The marriage was an unsuitable one in every way, for the 
Prince was sickly, stupid, morose and disagreeable ; in fact, 
in every way the exact opposite of his wife. Moreover, he 
was afflicted with epilepsy in its most horrible form, being 
seized with a frightful attack within twenty-four hours of the 
wedding ceremony. In 1871, after three years of a misera- 
ble married existence, he put an end to his life by blowing 
out his brains in his young wife's bedroom and in her 
presence. 

From that time forward she devoted herself entirely to her 
brother, the late Alfonso XII., to whom she was united by 
bonds of the very deepest affecdon. When he became King 
in 1874 she accompanied him to Madrid, and resuming her 
rank of Princess of the Asturias until the birth of his little 
girl in 1880, acted as his most trusted counsellor and most 
devoted friend. When he married in 1878 the lovely Mer- 
cedes, she effaced herself and cheerfully surrendered to the 
young Queen the chief position which she had until then 
occupied at her brother's court. It was not, in fact, until the 
King's death, that she came prominently again before the 
public as the friend and supporter of her brother's widow, the 
Queen Regent (who at that time was disliked by the people 
on account of her Austrian origin), and as the guardian of 
the little fatherless children. Spaniards of every degree say 
of her that she is the cleverest "statesman " and most broad- 
minded "politician" in the country, and although displaying 
all the tenderness of a woman to her sister-in-law and little 
nephew and nieces, yet her intelligence and conversation 
partake more of a masculine than a feminine nature. The 
first time that her brother confided the Premiership to the 
31 



482 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Liberal statesman, Sagasta, she remarked : " Oh, that is 
quite in the ordinary state of things ; every healthy person is 
bound to go through the scarlatina." Should anything hap- 
pen to Queen Christina, whose health is exceedingly delicate, 
the regency and the guardianship of the infant King would 
devolve upon her. 

Spaniards appreciate the blameless private life of the 
Queen Regent all the more highly by reason of the contrast 
which her behavior presents to that of the family into which 
she married. There is probably no reigning house in the 
world has such a seamy, and at the same time romantic, 
side to its history as that of Spain. 

It is the branch to which Kinof Francis of Assisi, husband 
of Queen Isabella II., belongs which has given most cause 
for scandalous stories. The eldest sister of King Francis, 
Princess Isabella, eloped with a Polish nobleman. Count 
Gurowski, who, although poor, was extremely popular at 
Paris, Their marriage, to which the subsequent consent of 
the Crown was obtained, did not turn out to be a happy 
one. Her extravagances, both as regards money and m,orals, 
were beyond all description, and after the birth of a daughter 
a separation was arranged. The Princess is a kind of mad 
woman, whom I have frequently met on foot in the streets of 
Madrid, disgracefully dressed, looking for all the world like 
a disreputable old-clothes merchant. All doors are closed to 
her. Her daughter, who was a charming and lovely girl, 
died a short time ago in the utmost poverty at a litde farm 
not far from the capital. Thanks to her mother's insane ex- 
travagance, notwithstanding the liberality of the late King, 
the bed on which she expired constituted the sole furniture 
of the place. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



483 



Another of the sisters is Princess Josefa, who contracted a 
most romantic marriage with the Cuban poet and statesman, 
Guell y Rente. The latter, who died about three years ago, 
was favorably known in the United States as having been a 
great partisan in favor of the Cortes abolishing all duties on 
'American corn ; in fact, he was a kind of Spanish Cobden. 
When quite a young man he became attached to a young 
lady belonging to one of the principal families of Cuba. His 
love was returned, but the father refused to encourage the 
suit, and contemptuously told him that he was of far too low 
origin ever to dream of marrying his daughter. Enraged, 
Guell y Rente exclaimed that he would show people who he 
was by marrying a princess. Crossing the ocean, he arrived 
at Madrid, and soon made a name for himself there as poet 
and author. Several poems which he dedicated to Princess 
Josefa sufficed to turn her head completely. They became 
enamoured of one another and fled together. The royal 
family were thunderstruck. The scandal was rendered 
doubly great by the fact of Guell y Rente being a most 
pronounced Radical. The Government tried unsuccessfully 
to get the marriage invalidated by the Pope, but the people 
were delighted therewith. Sentences of exile were pro- 
nounced against them, but after awhile the good-nature for 
which Queen Isabella is notorious prevailed, and the couple 
returned to Spain with honor, the Queen receiving the popu- 
lar poet as her brother-in-law. He was a most charming 
man and a distinguished author, while his speeches in the 
Senate and the Cortes are of historical interest. The royal 
family at no time had reason to regret the marriage, and his 
three sons are perhaps the most popular and certainly the 
most accomplished young men in Madrid, 



484 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



King Francis of Assisi, husband of Queen Isabella, is a 
little bit of a man, almost a dwarf, with a squeaky voice and 
a spiteful character. It is needless for me to refer to the 
shameful history of his marriage, which was arranged by 
King Louis Philippe, of ^France, on account of the little man 
being physically unfit for matrimony. Despised by every 
one, he lives in a miserly kind of way at Epinay, near Paris. 
His wife's extravagance and its disastrous effects perpetually 
before his eyes, he has rushed to the other extreme, and his 
avarice is proverbial. On the occasion of the wedding of his 
daughter, in 1887, husband and wife met for the first time in 
many years. 

Don Enrique, his second brother, who was killed in a duel, 
in 1870, by the Duke of Montpensier, was formerly engaged 
to be married to Queen Isabella. As, however, there was 
every prospect of his having issue, Louis Philippe successfully 
intrigued to get Don Francis preferred instead, so that by 
default of Isabella's having any children, the crown might de- 
scend to her sister, and his daughter-in-law, the Duchess of 
Montpensier. Don Enrique, deeply offended by the rejection 
of his suit, threw himself into the arms of the Republican 
party, and became the head of a conspiracy to upset the 
Government. At the last hour, however, his courage failed 
him, and he was only able to obtain his pardon by dishonor- 
ably revealing the names of all his accomplices, who were 
severely punished. 

Prince Fernando, the third brother, who died some years 
ago, disgraced his family by marrying an improper character, 
who successfully fathered on him a child of hers which owed 
its paternity elsewhere. 

Another sister, Princess Christina, almost an idiot, is now 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. .g^- 

the widow of the intensely ugly and one-eyed Prince Sebas- 
tien of Braganza. Her two sons, who resemble their mother 
as far as intellect is concerned, distinguished themselves by 
marrying the daughters of some rather disreputable trades- 
people of Madrid. One of them, I may add, was the late 
Duke of D ureal, who a few 
years ago endeavored to 
sell in New York a collec- 
tion of exceedingly modern 
and questionable old mas- 
ters. 

Poor little Princess 
Eulalie, sister of the late 
King, and who was mar- 
ried four years ago to 
Prince Antoine of Mont- 
pensier, is hardly to be 
congratulated on her hus- 
band, who resembles his 
father-in-law, the ex-King 
Consort, both physically 
and morally. The Prin- 
cess's life is not a happy 
one, and it is no secret 
that she was forced by 
political considerations to 
consent to this most distasteful alliance. She is exceedingly 
clever, lively and very popular with the people of Madrid, 
who do not love her the less because of the stories about a 
certain young foreign diplomat of my acquaintance, who on 
her account was recalled at the personal request of the late 
King Alfonso. 




PRINCESS EULALIE, 

Sister of the Late King. 



486 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Alfonso XII. is deeply and sincerely mourned by his young 
widow. The marriage, however, can scarcely have been a 
happy one. The King's first wife, Dona Mercedes, was very 
lovely, and he was almost heart-broken when she died. 
Reasons of State alone induced Alfonso to contract a second 
marriage with Queen Christina, who comes from the very 
plainest branch of the Hapsburgs, a family by no means re- 
markable for its comeliness. Althouoh treated with the 
greatest courtesy by her husband, she was frequently made 
to feel this, and at one time his behavior was such that she 
withdrew with her two little daughters to Austria, whence she 
could only with dilfficulty be persuaded to return. The per- 
son most to blame for the King's unfortunate legerete was 
the Duke de Sesto, step-father of the present Duke of Morny. 
Handsome Pepe Sesto, who, in 1850, was one of the most 
favored suitors for the hand of Eugenie of Teba (subse- 
quently Empress of the French), occupied the post of Lord 
High Chamberlain, and became the King's inseparable com- 
panion. Although close upon sixty years of age, he did not 
deem it beneath his dignity to act the part of Cupid in the 
King's love affairs, and if the current gossip at Madrid is to 
be believed, he, on one memorable occasion, felt all the weight 
of Queen Christina's hand on his cheek whilst attempting to 
prevent her entering a certain little pavilion, not a hundred 
miles from Madrid, at the door of which he was on guard, and 
where his royal master was spending the afternoon with a 
beautiful Castilian lady of the court. 

Few people are aware of the very strange fact that the late 
King, who died over six years ago, is still unburied, and 
awaiting his final interment in the tomb which has been pre- 
fi^red for his corpse. The dead monarch lies, at present, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



487 



clothed only in a thin linen garment, on a broad slab of rock 
near a running- spring of water, in a cavern on the mountain 
whereupon the grand old Palace of the Escurial is built. 
There he will remain until his body has attained all the pecu- 
liar properties of a mummy, and then only will the ghastly 
object be placed in its niche in that marvelous jasper vault 
under the great dome of the Escurial Church, where only the 
remains of Spanish Kings and the mothers of Kings are al- 
lowed to lie. Some bodies, notably that of Queen Isabella's 
profligate father, have remained on the rock table for twenty 
or twenty-five years before they were in a fit condition to be 
transferred to the vault. The name of this weird and ghostly 
cavern — the particularly dry and pungent atmosphere of which 
has the remarkable property of mummifying corpses — is the 
" Pudrido," a name which is also sometimes misapplied to the 
vaults containing the bodies of the Infants and Infantas. 

No greater contrast can possibly be imagined than that 
which exists between the widowed Queen Regent of Spain 
and her mother-in-law, Queen Isabella, who divides her time 
between Madrid and Paris. When in the latter city, she re- 
sides in a superb mansion near the Arc de Triomphe, and 
which is known by the name of the Palace of Castille. No 
Queen in modern times has given more cause for scandal, 
and were it not for her kindly nature and her charity, which 
have done much towards atoning for her intrigues, she would 
remain on record in history as the Messalina of the nineteenth 
century. Of course, much of the shady side of her character 
is attributable to the evil surroundings, amidst which she was 
brought up. Her mother's immoralities were the talk of the 
civilized world, and of the most flagrant kind. When barely 
fifteen years of age, Isabella was married against her will to 



488 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

her dwarf-like cousin, Don Francis of Bourbon, who, it was 
known, could never become a father. 

Isabella almost immediately proceeded to compensate her- 
self for this marriage de converiance, and the Marshal Serrano 
was the most conspicuous, if not the earliest of her favorites. 
While yet a bride, she used to address him publicly as her 
" Bonito Francisco," and it was no secret, either at Court or 
among the public, that he stood in the place of her husband. 
Indeed, he is openly asserted, and to all intents and purposes 
acknowledged, to be the father of her son, the late King, and 
of at least two of her daughters. She was even accustomed to 
accompany him to various places of public resort in Madrid, 
arrayed in masculine garments, which scarcely served to con- 
ceal her identity. In fact, at the time she seemed to have lost 
all sense of shame. Subsequently, Serrano was replaced in 
her affections by a tall, beetle-browed and sinister -looking 
man, of the name of Marfori, who was raised from the hum- 
blest ranks to the highest offices and dignities of the realm. 
Indeed, the Queen was on the eve of making him a Cabinet 
Minister, when the Revolution occurred, in 1889, which re- 
sulted in her abdication and temporary exile from the king- 
dom. So great was the scandal which her relations with 
Marfori created, that when she took up her residence in Paris, 
Napoleon III., who can scarcely be regarded as having been a 
stern moralist, was forced to demand that Isabella should dis- 
miss the man and sever his connection with her household. 

No one hated Marfori more than Isabella's son, the late King 
Alfonso, and on the latter's ascending the throne of Spain, 
after the restoration of the monarchy, one of his very first 
acts was to cause the arrest of his mother's ex-lover, and to 
ship him off to the Convict Colony of Manilla. King Alfonso 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



489 



did this with the object of putting out of public sight and, as 
far as possible, out of public mind the cause that had con- 
tributed more than anything else to bring the fame of his 
mother into disrepute. I may add that Marfori died a few 
months ago, greatly 
to the relief of the 
Spanish Royal fami- 
lies. 

With all her faults 
Queen Isabella is both 
very queenly, very 
witty and extremely 
good-natured. Of the 
latter quality the fol- 
lowing little incident 
will serve as an illus- 
tration. One day, 
about two years ago, 
a poor woman who 
makes a living at 
Paris by mending rare 
laces, and who in- 
cluded among her 
customers many o f 
the greatest ladies in 
Paris, presented her- ex-queen Isabella. 

self at the gate of the Palace d'Castille, and having suc- 
ceeded in obtaining access to the Queen, told her with 
many tears that an illegitimate child of the late King Alfonso 
XII., a little boy of nine years, was dying of diphtheria at her 
own humble dwelling. 




490 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Don Alfonso had inherited his mother's ardent passions, 
and was by no means a faithful husband. Every time he 




The Late King of Spain. 



could steal away from the heavy Spanish etiquette of his 
Court at Madrid he would fly to Paris, the capital of the 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. ^gj 

pleasures, and become an ordinary viveur. Queen Mercedes 
knew of these escapades, and so, too^ did her successor, 
Queen Christina. But both were too dignified to take any 
notice of them, and seemingly ignored the fact that the King 
had an unofficial home and family in Paris, where a pretty, 
fair-haired woman always greeted his arrival with joy. 

Four children were born from this illegal union, but shortly 
after the King's demise in 1885, their mother died, and was 
soon followed into the grave by her eldest three boys. The 
little survivor was taken charge of by the kind-hearted lace- 
mender, who for over five years had been a mother to him. 
Like many others, however, she had been suffering from bad 
times, and when the child became dangerously sick with 
diphtheria she found herself unable to bear the cost of the 
doctors' bills and medicine. 

The moment Queen Isabella heard of all this she unhesi- 
tatingly took charge of the litde patient, and, much to the 
horror and indignation of her attendants and household, she 
herself nursed the little fellow with unparalleled devotion 
until his death. 

There is something very touching in the goodness of this 
dethroned and much-maligned old Queen cherishing and 
nursing through a dangerous and contagious illness the 
abandoned and illegitimate child of her dead boy, and as- 
suredly such an action as this goes far toward atoning for 
the many indiscretions which, rightly and wrongly, have been 
placed to her credit. 

Although Queen Isabella receives an allowance of $1 50,000 
per annum from the Spanish Government, yet that amount is 
far from adequately providing for her expenses, and she is in- 
variably head over ears in debt, so much so that she has fre- 



493 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



quently been placed in the most embarrassing situations. 
Her husband, on the other hand, Don Francis, who lives 
apart from her, and has a separate household of his own, is 
noted for his sordid avarice, and does not spend more than 
$20,000 out of the $600,- 
000 which he receives from 
the Spanish treasury every 
year. 

The little six-year-old 
King of Spain has a Civil 
List of $1,500,000 a year, 
which is administered with 
the greatest care and econ- 
omy by his mother, the 
Queen Regent, who although 
entitled to a separate allow- 
ance of $100,000 a year, as 
widow of the late King, has 
refused to draw a single 
cent thereof since his death 
The King's little sister, Princess Mercedes, who is now 
about eleven years of age, has a fixed income from the 
State of $100,000 a year. The young lady bears the title 
of the Princess of the Asturias, and should her brother, 
little King Alfonso, die unmarried, she would become once 
more the Queen of Spain. 

It seems to be forgotten that this little girl, who has now 
to remain content with the title of Princess, bore that of 
Queen for full six months after the death of her father. 
The demise of the latter occurred in November, 1885, and 
it was not until half a year later that Queen Christina gavje 




PRINCESS MERCEDES, 
Who was Queen for Six Months. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SPAIN. 



493 



birth to the posthumous child who now figures as King 
Alfonso XIII. 

It was during that interval that numerous projects were 
made for an eventual marriage of little Queen Mercedes 




XA GRANGE. 



with Don Jaime, the eldest son and heir of Don Carlos. 
Such a match as this would have settled once and forever 
the everlasdng Carlist quesdon in Spain, which is one of the 
sources of weakness of the present dynasty. 



494 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Referring again to the grandees, the order was first insti- 
tuted by Charles V, in the year i^o, on his return from 
Germany, after being crowned Emperor. Wishing to initi- 
ate Charlemagne, he created twelve grandees or peers. The 
following were thus elected : The Dukes of Medina-Sidonia, 
of Medina-Celi, of Medina-Rioseco, of Alba, of Frias, of In- 
fantado, of Arcos, of Escalona, of Najera, of Benvente, of 
Alberquerque, and the Marquis of Astorga. 

Of all these, two alone — namely, the Duchy of Frias and 
the Marquisate of Astorga — have maintained the direct affili- 
ation and are still borne by the families on whom they were 
originally conferred. The title of Arcos has become extinct, 
and the remaining nine dukedoms are in the possession of 
noblemen with entirely different patronymics to those of the 
oricrinal holders of the title. This confusion arises from the 
fact that, in Spain, titles not only descend in the female line, 
but that, on marriage, a lady's title becomes transferred to 
her husband, who, however, still retains his old family-name. 
Hence it happens that, whereas the title of Medina-Sidonia 
was conferred on the Guzman family, it is now borne by the 
house of Toledo ; while the dukedom of Alba, which formerly 
belonged to the Toledo family, is now in the possession of 
the Stuarts. 

It will, therefore, be readily understood that, while the rank 
of grandee is still highly prized in Spain, mere titles of nobil- 
ity are quite at a discount. There are dukes who have been 
hatters, and marquises whose fathers have kept small dry 
goods stores; while quite a number of counts were formerly 
slave-traders in Havana or small wine-merchants in Madrid, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

OF 

AUSTRIA. 
I. 

THERE is something both majestic and imposing about 
Francis Joseph, the Emperor-King of Austro-Hungary, 
but there is especially something that is wonderfully attractive 
and sympathetic in his kind but unutterably sad eyes, in his 
gentle and courtly address, and in his entire absence of all 
affectation. Although his hair has turned snowy-white and 
his interesting face has become furrowed with many wrinkles, 
yet his figure retains all the matchless elegance for which it 
was distinguished in the days of yore, and he still remains, 
both outwardly and inwardly, the impersonification of every- 
thing that is knightly and chivalrous. He attracts rather 
than imposes, and the feelings both of his household, of his 
familiars, and of his people at large, are those of love and 
deep attachment, rather than of veneration and awe. He 
is so entirely unaffected, so simple, so considerate and so 
anxious to say and do kind things, that to every one with 
whom he comes into contact he displays the most kindly and 
courteous consideration and the most winning graciousness. 
Under the circumstances, it is only natural that he 
should be the most popular and sincerely beloved monarch 
in Christendom. This, too, by both rich and poor, by the 
high-born and by the humbler classes. To the latter, in 
particular, he is accessible, ever ready to lend an ear to their 
personal troubles and grievances, and eager to redress them. 
Nothingf is more characteristic of this than the scenes which 
take place in his ante-chamber on Monday and Thursday 

(495) 



496 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



mornings when he is at Vienna. The great room is thronged 
with cardinals and prelates, with generals, and statesmen, with 
great nobles, and magnates ; and mingling with all these 
high and mighty personages, are Bohemian bricklayers, 
Styrian farmers, peasants from Upper-Austria, humble shop- 
keepers from the poorer quarters of Vienna, and village 
•priests, all waiting to submit their troubles, their sorrows, 
their wrongs, and their grievances to "unsern guten Kaiser" 
(to our good Emperor). I need scarcely add that in 
accordance with the teachings of the New Testament, it is 
the village priest who is generally received before the scarlet- 
robed cardinal, the poorly clad peasant before the cabinet 
minister in his gold embroidered uniform, and the farmer 
before the great territorial magnate. 

Only once in many years, have I seen Francis Joseph 
disconcerted and displaying loss of composure. It was on 
the occasion of a banquet at the Palace of Schoenbrunn in 
honor of the Shah of Persia. The champagne at dinner had 
been too strong in quality and copious in quantity, for the 
"King of Kings," who became disgracefully drunk. A number 
of presentations had to be made to Nasr-el-Deen, once din- 
ner over, and the Emperor looked utterly horrified when he 
witnessed the manner in which his Oriental guest greeted the 
great dignitaries of the empire as they approached to make 
their obeisance. Instead of acknowledging their low bows, 
he merely leered at them through his spectacles, sniffed con- 
temptuously at some, hiccoughed and laughed offensively at 
others, and after indulging in some particularly insulting and 
audible remarks in French concerning the appearance of one 
of the principal dignitaries of the Church, who was being in- 
troduced to him, he suddenly turned on his heel and stalked 





Francis Joseph. 

Emperor of Austro-Hungary 



498 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES 



or rather, reeled off to a mirror in another part of the room, 
where he stood for nearly ten minutes grinning and muttering 
at his reflection in the glass and twirling his long mustache. 
During that time the Emperor was engaged in attempting to 
excuse and atone for the rudeness of his royal visitor, 
to propitiate those who had been offended thereby, and to 
check the almost irrepressible merriment of those who had 
been merely spectators to this most extraordinary and ludi- 
crous scene. After this I need scarcely add that the Persian 
monarch did not impress those present with the feeling that 
there was any superior kind of clay in his composition or that 
he had any just claim to consideration as one of the 
anointed of the Lord. Indeed, judging by the horrible little 
man's appearance and character, Allah, it should be imagined 
used more mud than clay, in manufacturing this uninteresting 
specimen of an Oriental monarch. 

" Quick of apprehension, he has a safe, circumspect 
manner of judging, with simplicity and openness of demeanor 
that beget confidence." Such was the pronouncement of 
Bismarck on the Emperor of Austria after his first interview 
with him some nine and thirty years ago. There is little to add 
to it and still less to take from it to-day. What Francis Joseph 
was then he is now. The only change in his character 
wrought by the fleeting years has, perhaps, been a deepening 
of its shadows. He himself, we believe, has said that he will 
probably be known in history ?,s " Francis Joseph the Un- 
lucky," and alike in his public and private life, misfortune, 
sorrow, blighted ambitions and deferred hopes have intensi- 
fied the tinge of pensive melancholy which has shadowed his 
life, and which is so apparent in the expression of his noble 
counteOf^nge, He ^s, beloved, na^ a-lmost \vorshipped by hi^ 



I 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



499 



subjects who never lose an occasion of demonstrating to him 
their loyalty and their enthusiastic affection. 

It has been said that Austria means the Hapsburgs, and 
it may with equal truth be averred that just now the Haps- 
burgs mean the Emperor Francis Joseph. He is one of those 
sovereigns who both reign and rule. He is the keystone and 
the corner-stone of his empire, and his personal influence, 
watchfulness, caution, probably I might even say his craft, 
alone secure to the races under his government, scope for the 
development of their instincts, ambitions and institutions. 
The Emperor is for Austria, " I'homme necessaire." His 
death might not involve its destruction; but it would produce 
incalculable disturbance and disastrous unrest among the in- 
compatible racial elements now held in solution by the dual 
monarchy. 

The authority which the Emperor wields owing to his 
personal qualities is enormous. His way of speaking with 
those who seek an audience from him, his apparent interest 
in the most trivial details concerning those who are favored 
by an interview from the monarch are very charac- 
teristic. At the reception of delegates, His Majesty makes 
a point of wearing a Hungarian uniform to receive the Mag- 
yar delegation; that of an Austrian officer when receiving his 
Cis-Leithan subjects, and the uniform of a Polish regiment, 
when greeting his Polish subjects. On these occasions he 
speaks to eighty, sometimes one hundred persons in rapid suc- 
cession, and every one of his remarks shows a thorough ac- 
quaintance with all the affairs great and small of the mon- 
archy. Foreign affairs and' railway tariffs, commercial treaties 
and parliamentary procedure, the army, the navy, agriculture, 
the budget, the troublesome young Sgechs and the poor Jew- 



500 WITHIN" ROYAL PALACES. 

ish population in Galicia,all make the subjects of His Majesty's 
kindly and paternal remarks. Nor Is the comic element 
sometimes wanting In these conversations. Some time ago 
when addressing a Polish delegate, His Majesty asked how 
things were going on in Gallcla. " Oh Sir, we are suffering 
from a dreadful plague of field mice," answered the delegate 
ruefully. "Ah, das ist recht fatal," answered the Emperor 
with a smile. 

All these things are trifles and yet they mean a great 
deal. Every delegate comes away happy at having spoken 
with the Emperor, and feeling that His Majesty is quite as 
much Interested In his particular business, whatever that may 
be, as he himself. If he had a grievance he has had an oppor- 
tunity of making It known. If he had a favor to ask, the 
chance of so doing has been given him. Now multiply the 
impression produced upon 120 delegates a thousand or a 
hundred thousandfold by remembering that tw'ce a week the 
Emperor Is accessible to all classes of his subjects ! Anybody 
who has serious business with him may see him and speak 
with him quite alone, without even a secretary being present. 
The applicant, whatever may be his station,' Is ushered Into 
a study and finds the Emperor in a plain uniform without a 
single decoration. He may say what he likes, sure of being 
hearkened to with patient attention. The scenes that have 
been enacted In the Emperor's private chamber no chronicler 
will ever tell. Of the acts of kindness, mercy, and charity 
shown, of the swift redress of wrongs, of the shrewd soldierly 
advice given, and of the Imperial magnanimity at all times, 
no record can have been kept except in the Emperor's own 
memory. If even there. 

But if the Emperor of Austria's personal contact with the 



THE IMPERIAL EA]\rlLY OE AUSTRIA. 



5^^f 



lowest as well as with the highest of his subjects, explains 
how constitutionalism is worked in this country, — it is a thing- 
sid generis, different from anything that exists elsewhere, and 
not to be copied — it cannot be said of the Emperor ''quil 
regiie et ne goiiverne pas'' he both reigns and governs, 
though always within the limits of the Constitution granted to 
his people. His speeches to Parliaments and delegations 
may not be drawn up by himself but they are not mere words 
put into his mouth by Ministers arrogating Imperial authority 
to themselves on the strength of party majorities. The Em- 
peror's personal impact is impressed deep upon every great 
act performed in the name of the Crown, just as his individ- 
ual influence may be traced in all negotiations which tend to 
allay party strife, or to arrest conflicts between races. 

Born in 1830, Francis Joseph at the age of eighteen suc- 
ceeded to the throne his uncle abdicated, after the revolt of 
the Magyars had shaken the House of Hapsburg to its cen- 
tre. Nothing but the genius of Radetsky and the loyalty of 
her Slavs saved Austria from ruin in those days, and the 
savage cruelty with which Hungarian nationality was sup- 
pressed roused the wrath of the world. Austria was then to 
all European Liberals the symbol of reactionary despotism 
and military brutality. His Majesty was very young in state- 
craft in those days, and yet his extreme energy, his remarka- 
ble good sense and supreme coolness worked marvels. The 
part played by Francis Joseph in regenerated Austria will 
never be fully appreciated till the history of our time is writ- 
ten. But it must be distinctly understood by those who ap- 
proach the study of Austrian affairs that in all questions of 
military or foreign policy, the Emperor is the Government. 
It must also be understood that the sole aim of his life Is to 



502 WITHIN ROVAL PALACES. 

avoid going down to history as the " Prince under whose rule 
the dominions of the Hapsburgs diminished." The Imperial 
crown has been of a truth an iron one, and has weighed 
heavily on him ever since the day when it was placed on his 
blonde head when he was yet almost too young to bear its 
burden. He was barely grown up then and yet was already 
possessed of all the qualities and courage which make great 
generals. During the siege of Comorn, Czar Nicholas 
pinned on his breast the Cross of St. George, which is only 
given for great deeds of valor. This seems to have brought 
him luck, for shortly afterwards he triumphed over Hungary, 
and he crushed Italy at Novarra. When Field-marshal 
Radetski brouo;ht him on the battlefield, the sword of Charles 
Albert, he threw himself on the old soldier's breast and wept for 
joy like a child. A black cloud was, however, gathering over 
the young sovereign's head, but when it burst Francis Joseph 
could hardly be induced to believe that his luck was over. 
After the battle of Solferino, as he was leaving the battle- 
field with his escort a French battery opened fire on the 
Imperial party. The Emperor immediately stopped his horse 
and stood motionless under the shower of iron which fell 
around him. He evidently wished to die then, but death, like 
a coquette, evades those who seek her, and the young mon- 
arch was destined to be spared, in order that he might drain 
to the very dregs the cup of disappointment and sorrow. His 
defeat by the Prussian army at Sadowa, in 1866, was the 
bitterest blow of all to him, one from which he has not recov- 
ered to this day. 

Francis Joseph's punctilious courtesy is proverbial, and 
a young diplomat talking about him, declared once, that he 
was the Sovereign of Europe, who understood best the diffi- 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



503 



cult art of settinor his interlocutors thoroughly at ease. 
These are the words in which the attache in question ex- 
pressed himself: *T always remember my first presentation 
to the Emperor at a ball, given by Countess Andrassy at 
Vienna. I was scarcely eighteen years of age, but little more 
than a mere boy, and had only recently bid adieu to school 
and birchings. On being presented, His Majesty shook hands 
most kindly, spoke to me about the great public school at 
which I had been educated, and which he mentioned by name, 
and alter five minutes of kindly chaff and banter, laid his hand 
on my shoulder and expressed a wish that I should enjoy my- 
self to my heart's content at Vienna. Of course, the knowl- 
edge which he disolayed of my previous life, of my school- 
days, and of my successes in college-sports, was derived from 
inquiries, which he had probably made a few moments before 
to the great personage who had obtained his permission to 
present me. However, I did not think of that at the time, 
but felt astonished and flattered by his extraordinary acquaint- 
ance with my past life, and future prospects, and even now, 
when I look back to the incident in a more calm and dispassion- 
ate frame of mind, I must confess to a strong sympathy for the 
great monarch who, in the midst of a magnificent entertain- 
ment and at a moment when he was surrounded by Arch- 
dukes and Princes, by celebrated statesmen and famous 
generals, and by the most beautiful and high-born women in 
in the land, could find time not only to devote five minutes 
to a mere callow youth of eighteen, but also to take the 
trouble to acquaint himself beforehand with the lad's past 
life, with the object of giving the youngster pleasure and of 
putting him at his ease. Of course, what he did for me on 
that occasion, he has done for thousands of others. To every 



504, WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

one with whom he comes into contact, he displays the same 
kindly and courteous con:ideration and the same winning 
graciousness." 

A mighty Nimrod is the chivalrous Emperor, and he is 
famed as being the most successful and fearless hunter of 
chamois on record. No man living possesses a larger collec- 
tion of gemsboc beards, which constitute the hunter's trophy 
of this most perilous and arduous of all chases. The only 
person whose score comes any where near to his own is his Inti- 
mate friend and " chum," King Albert of Saxony. Both of the 
monarchs are now old men, with hair, whiskers and mustache 
of a snowy-white, but neither their years, nor yet their 
sorrows, which have contributed so much towards aging them 
prematurely, have been permitted until now to interfere with 
their annual chamois hunting expedition in the Styrian Alps. 
This invariably takes place in the latter part of autumn, and 
the two monarchs make their headquarters at Francis 
Joseph's picturesque shooting lodge, or rather chateau, at 
Muerzsteg.' They are usually accompanied by the Emperor's 
son-in-law, Prince Leopold, of Bavaria ; by the young Arch- 
duke Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the throne ; by Prince 
Phillippe, of Saxe-Coburg ; and by the most important of all 
dignitaries of the Austrian Court, Count Henry von Aben- 
sperg-Traun, the Grand Huntsman of the Empire. The last 
named, who by virtue of his office holds a seat in the Privy 
Council, and ranks higher than the cabinet ministers, has 
under his control all the game preserves, the hunting equip- 
ages, and the shooting lodges of the Crown in various parts 
of the Empire, and is the generalissimo of the anny of game- 
keepers and jaegers many thousand in number, who wear 
the livery of the house of Hapsburg. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRLi. 



505 



The first three or four days of the stay at Muerzsteg are 
devoted to stalking the chamois, the two sovereigris gener- 
ally remaining together, attended only by the Grand Hunts- 
man and by a few jaegers and guides, while the other mem- 
bers of the shooting-party follow each his own devices. 
The start is made every morning about an hour before dawn, 
so as to enable the sportsmen to be well up on the mountain 
side by daybreak, that being the time when the gemsboc is 
heard at his best. All day long the two old sovereigns, 
alpenstock in hand and short, stocky rifle slung o'ver the shoul- 
der, go toiling up and down the mountains, along the edges 
of great precipices, tracing their steps along paths that to the 
uninitiated would seem to afford no footpath to any living 
thing save the chamois. Sometimes they are overtaken by 
snow-storms, while up in the mountains, and are unable to 
see their way or to move either backwards or forwards for 
whole hours together, while at other times they are forced to 
lie down flat on their stomachs and to cling with hand and 
foot to any friendly bit of projecting rock in order to avoid 
being blown down the precipices or into the deep crevasses 
by the terrible winds which without warning suddenly sweep 
through the Alpine gorges and valleys with a force that can 
only be described as cyclonic. Everybody, Emperor, King, 
Princes, and attendants, down to the humblest jaeger, wears 
the same kind of Styrian dress, consisting of a sort of 
"yoppe"or Austrian jacket of gray homespun with green 
collar and facings, and buttons of undressed stag horn; home- 
spun breeches, buttoned above the knee, which is left entirely 
bare; thick woolen stockings rolled below the knee; and 
heavy hobnailed laced boots. The head-gear is that known 
in this country as the Tyrolese hat, adorned by a chamois 
beard fastened to the ribbon. 



5o6 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



By dusk, which comes early in the mountains, everybody 
is back at the Jagdschloss, and dinner is served at five, in a 
room panelled with- wood and decorated with sporting 
trophies. The costume worn is the same as that worn during 
the day. The Emperor and the King sit next to one another, 
while the Grand Huntsman faces them on the opposite side 
of the table. The dinner is served not by liveried footmen, 
but by jaegers and game-keepers. On rising from the table, 
the party, as a rule, descend into the court-yard, where, on a 
layer of pine branches all the game killed during the day 
is laid out, the jaegers forming three sides of a square, light- 
ing up the scene with great pine torches, while the huntsmen 
sound the "curee chaude/' By eight or nine o'clock 
everybody is in bed, the whole of the chateau wrapped in 
slumber. 

During the last three or four days of the stay the so- 
called "treibjagds" take the place of stalking. They are far 
more ceremonious but infinitely less fatiguing affairs, and as 
they begin between eight and nine and last till four, they do 
not involve getting out of bed at the unearthly hour of three 
or four o'clock in the morning. They necessitate, however, 
an enormous amount of preparation and organization on the 
part of the Grand Huntsman. During at least forty-eight 
hours beforehand, a vast corps of "treibers" or Styrian 
mountaineers engaged for the purpose, have been employed, 
in surrounding a district of mountain and valley many miles 
in area. The circle is gradually narrowed down until the 
whole of the game is driven from the heights into the valley, 
where the Emperor and his guests have taken up their posi- 
tion. The arrangement of the latter is regarded as a matter 
of the utmost importance, and on the evening before, the 




The Late Crown Prince Rudolph. 



goS WITHIN ROYAL fALACES. 

Grand Huntsman submits to the Emperor a carefully drawrt- 
up ground-plan of the locality. His Majesty thereupon des- 
ignates with his own hands the spot where each of his guests 
is to take up his position on the following morning. He 
himself and the King of Saxony generally await the game in 
the lowest part of the valley, the remaining guests and officials 
being spread up the mountain-side on either hand, according 
to their degree of rank and Imperial favor, those who enjoy 
the greatest share thereof being the nearest to the Sovereigns 
down in the valley, while those of less importance are posted 
higher up on the mountain sides. By nine o'clock every 
member of the party must be in the place assigned to him on 
the plan, and the " treibers " who have kept the game care- 
fully within the circle of their lines, now proceed to drive it 
down towards the shooting party. 

Until the death of Crown Prince Rudolph, Empress 
Elizabeth, although she had passed her fiftieth year when this 
tragical event took place, had remained one of the most 
beautiful women in her dominions and looked barely thirty. 
Since the loss of her beloved son she has, however, lost to a 
certain degree this appearance of extreme and remarkable 
youthfulness. Streaks of silver have crept into the silky 
masses of her maenificent chestnut hair which reaches far 
below her knees, and there is a weariness and languor in 
her glorious dark blue eyes, which although it in no way mars 
their loveliness, yet impresses those who love and revere her 
with a deep sense of regret and pain. 

Strangely enough Her Majesty has never been popular in 
Austria, for the invariable reluctance to appear in public at 
any of the state functions wounded the Viennese to the quick. 
Seldom indeed do her subjects get a chance of gazing on 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA, roo 

their Sovereign and when this favor is granted to them, 
opera glasses, nay, even telescopes and field-glasses are 
used by the crowd in staring at her exquisite face and truly 
Imperial figure, a fact which of course does not tend to 
encourage her to diminish her distaste for publicity or her 
love of seclusion. 

When in Hungary, the Empress, it is true, acts quite differ- 
ently to what she does at Vienna. For she has a particular 
predilection for the Hungarians and has absolutely and com- 
pletely won the hearts of this impressionable people by her 
unaffected graciousness and openly avowed sympathy. She 
alvvay spends several months of the year at the Royal Castle 
of Godollo in Hungary, and is never so well and so free from 
the disposition to melancholy natural to her, as when staying 
at this, her favorite residence. Up soon after 5 o'clock in 
the morning, the Empress-Queen attends mass in the private 
chapel of the " Schloss,'' and then accompanied only by one 
lady-in-waiting, she mounts her horse and gallops off through 
the magnificent woods traversed in every direction by sandy 
avenues which surround Godollo on all sides. 

Some time after the Crown Prince's death Elizabeth's 
health became a subject of so much anxiety that she was en- 
treated by her physicians to discontinue riding. This was a 
tremendous sacrifice to her; for horsemanship is part of her 
very existence. She therefore lett Austria for a long series 
of wanderings through the East, and also directed her ener- 
gies and attention to the building and decorating of her villa 
* Achilleion " at Corfu, which became the chief subject of her 
thoughts. 

The attention of the Empress had been directed to the 
classiqal spot where the villa now stands by the recently de- 



510 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



ceased Frelherr von Warsberg, the great authority on the 
landscape scenery of the "Odyssey." The modest Villa 
Braila on the Gasturi Hill, in the island of Corfu, had been 
long known for its enchanting position, and within the incred- 
ibly short lime of little more than one and a half years was 
replaced, under the direction of the Italian architect Rafael 
Carito, by a palace conceived and carried out in the spirit of 
ancient Greece. The eastern slope of the hill facing towards 
the sea is covered with olive plantations, while the opposite 
incline has been laid out as a beautiful park on terraces. The 
west front of the villa rises in two stories, but is leaning to- 
wards the hill, so that the upper story at the opposite side is 
level with the first terrace. 

The principal entrance is on the south front, which, with 
its projecting porch, its loggias, and balconies, presents an 
exceedingly picturesque aspect. The vestibule is connected 
with a large, sumptuously decorated saloon, the ceiling being 
painted by Paliotti with the Four Seasons. To the right is 
the house chapel, in Byzantine style; to the left, the dining- 
room, in the character of the ItaHan Renaissance; adjoining, 
the smoking-room, in Pompeian style. A marble stair-case, 
with bronze balustrade, leads to the second story, where the 
apartments of the Empress are situated. The central saloon 
opens on the Centaur terrace, and is decorated in the Empire 
style with frescoes of Aurora on the ceiling, painted by Paliot- 
ti. The apartments are filled with art treasures of Pompeian 
and ancient Greek origin, which the Empress collected her- 
self. The decoration and arrangement of this suite reflect 
the individual taste of the august chatelaine in its 
well-known refinement. One of the most magnificent fea- 
tmr^^ gf the building i§ the peristyle into which the Em- 




Archduke Albrecht, AIakia Josephine anp Charles Francis Joseph^ 



512 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



press's rooms open. It is supported by twelve marble col- 
umns, in front of which are placed marble statues brought 
from Rome, while the walls are painted by Paliotti and Pas- 
tiglione with scenes from ancient Greek mythology and 
romance as described by Homer, ^sop and others. The 
magnificent terrace, with its marble balustrade, commands a 




PERISTYLE OF THE VII.LA OF THE EMPRESS AT CORFU. 

beautiful view of the sea, the town of Corfu, the Albanian 
coast opposite, the Pindus chain, and Cape Parga. Her 
Majesty's boudoir is in white and silver, with doors of white 
lacquered wood painted with groups of lilies of the valley, 
violets and -white heather. The furniture is of white velvet 
and the carpet is also pure white and covered almost entirely 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. rj-. 

with snowy bearskins. The stables, saddle- and harness- 
rcoms, are. one might almost say, the greatest marvel of this 
superb residence. The Empress ordered everything in this 
portion of the establishment to be brought from England 
down to the wainscoting in light oak which lines the coach- 
houses and saddle-rooms. The stables are at some distance 
from the house, and constitute a very picturesque feature in 
the landscape with their many gables, their latticed windows 
and their pointed roofs overrun with creepers and climbing 
roses. The broad, sanded alley leading to them gently 
ascends through the Park and is bordered on both sides with 
pink and white beds of geraniums and groves of blossoming 
camellias, azaleas and monster ferns. The grounds are like 
some dream of fairyland with their ever blooming thickets of 
tropical plants and trees, their groves of palms and blue-gum 
trees and their sparkling fountains. Behind the villa is a 
huge field of roses comprising twenty-five thousand bushes of 
all kinds and colors. A trellised walk covered with climbing 
noisette, and nyphetos roses, encloses this unique collection, 
the flower-laden branches meeting and interlacing overhead 
and then dropping in perfumed showers almost to the ground. 
Another of the Empress's favorite palaces is Schloss Mira- 
mar, near Trieste. Miramar is the most beautiful and fairy- 
like spot which the wildest dreams of an Oriental imagina- 
tion could realize. Perched on the extreme edge of a rocky 
promontory and built entirely of the purest white marble, the 
castle, with its glorious foreground of sapphire-blue sea and 
its background of emerald-green hills, is beyond description 
either by pen or brush. From the main terrace, on to which 
open the windows of the state apartments, one looks straight 
down upon the sea sixty feet below, and so pure and limpid is 
33 



5^4 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



the water of the Bay that the eye is able to penetrate its full 
depth of twenty fathoms at that spot. 

It is almost impossible to describe the architecture of the 
palace — for minarets, turrets, terraced roofs, mediaeval battle- 
ments and draw-bridges are mingled together in a pictur- 
esque and harmonious confusion. The gardens covering 
the lower part of the lofty green hills, which rise at the back 
of the palace, are equally picturesque in their mixture of 
European and tropical vegetation. Fir trees are to be seen 
growing by the side of date palms, and Italian poplars and 
silvery olive trees throw out their branches next to slender 
bamboo and banana plants. Fountains almost as magnificent 
as those of Versailles refresh, with their spray, the atmosphere 
in every direction, while even on the hottest days a cool 
promenade is to be found under the superb avenue of syca- 
mores, which entirely shut out every ray of sunlight. 

Miramar, as is well known, was the creation and pride of 
Emperor Maximilian, who lost his life in Mexico, and the 
study is an exact reproduction of the cabin on board the 
yacht owned by that unfortunate Prince, and on which he 
undertook his ill-fated voyage to his future empire. 

Of late Her Majesty has almost completely recovered her 
strength and can therefore once more enjoy the keen pleas- 
ure of the hunting field. There has always been in the great 
Lady's heart an impulse towards that forest-freedom which 
at times altogether masters her, and makes the routine of 
worldy dissipation and diversion wholly intolerable to her. 
She loves then, nothing better than to wander under the 
odorant pine trees of the Hungarian or Bohemian forests, 
leading her horse through the tall grass where countless wild 
flowers are hidden, occasionally jumping over a swollen 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. cjj* 

brook all blue with mouse-ear and irises, or clearing a broad 
blackthorn hedge under which daffodils are growing. Her 
love of nature, of out-of-door movement, and of healthful 
exercise and sport certainly have much to do with her abnor- 
mal and so long prolonged youthfulness of appearance. 

Besides being the most perfect horsewoman in Europe, 
Her Majesty is also an intrepid mountaineer and a first rate 
shot, and many a day has she spent in stalking the chamois 
up the most inaccessible heights of the Upper Austria and 
Tyrolian mountains. Often she would stay over night in a 
chaplet high perched on a ledge of rock at a great altitude of 
these wild regions. Her slender, fair limbs, were as strong 
as steel in a velvet scabbard and her health at that time per- 
fect. She would climb the grassy slopes, the steep stone 
ways, like an antelope, enchanted by the solitude, the sense 
of utter silence around her in which no sound was heard ex- 
cept that of rippling water, of broken boughs or perchance 
the joyful song of a herd tending his flocks on the green 
slopes far below. 

Elizabeth of Austria is a noble w^oman in the full sense of 
the word. She is very proud, silent, brave and resolute. 
She has a generous and perfectly truthful nature. Many 
have said that she has not always been amiable, that she is 
too far removed from human emotions and human needs, too 
cold, too distant; that is in a measure true, but this is just 
what has made her the most poetical, romantic and admirable 
figure among the royalty of Europe. No one who has not 
lived with her in close intimacy can realize her infinite grace, 
and the peculiar mixture of vivacity and languor which is so 
irresistible. Her heart is only too soft and loving for those 
who know how to reach it through the envelope of coldness 



5^6 



WITHIN RCYAL PALACES. 



which is one of her most striking characteristics. Men have 
been madly in love with her, but she has always been as pure 
and as unattainable as the unsullied snow of her beloved 
mountains. Often has she been compared to the Alpine 
edelweiss, this ice-blossom for which many risk their life and 
which alone can thrive in an untainted atmosphere. Many 
years ago a young and handsome Hungarian nobleman. 

Count H , lost his heart so completely to his lovely 

Sovereign that one night during a state ball at the castle of 
Shoenbrunn, while wandering by her side on the moonlit 
terrace he forgot all else save his uncontrollable passion and 
casting himself at her feet confessed his love to her in broken 

accents. Two days later Count H was exiled to his 

vast possessions in the far South of Hungary and during long 
years he was kept there by the orders of the Kaiser to whom 
Empress Elizabeth had at once confided the insult to which 
she had been subjected. 

The Emperor, in spite of all that may have been said to the 
contrary, and although a man of many intrigues, has really 
loved but one woman in the true sense of the word, and that 
woman is his wife. The story of his betrothal to her is one of 
the prettiest and most poetical pages of modern history. A 
marriage had been negotiated for him with the eldest 
daughter of Duke Maximillian in Bavaria, but when Francis 
Joseph arrived at his future father-in-law's castle to be 
officially' betrothed, he happened to meet in the Park the 
younger sister. Princess Elizabeth, as yet a girl in short dresses 
and who had not made her debut. To see her was to love 
her madly, for at fifteen the little Princess was the very 
embodiment of a poet's dream. She possessed that exquisite 
delicacy as of something too fair for man's rude touch; her 



The imperial family of Austria. ci- 

transparent, colorless skin, her immense, dreamy, dark-blue 
eyes, her wealth of rippling golden-chestnut hair, and 
especially her beaming, innocent smile proved too much for 
Francis Joseph's susceptible heart, and, breaking off his en- 
gagement to Princess Helen, he married Princess Eliza- 
beth. 

The union found no favor in the eyes of the haughty, exclusive 
aristocracy of Austria, who had cherished the idea of a grander 
alliance for their young Emperor than a marriage with the 
younger daughter of the impoverished Duke Maximillian in 
Bavaria. During the first years of her reign Empress 
Elizabeth was treated at Vienna with coldness and almost in- 
jurious reserve by her proud entourage. She has never for- 
gotten nor forgiven this. Even her husband's family kept 
aloof from the beautiful girl brought amongst them by the, 
ruler of Austro-Hungary, her greatest sin in their eyes being 
that she was not even a " Royal Highness " by birth. More- 
over, her mother-in-law. Empress Sophia, who, although one 
of the most remarkable women of the present century, was 
likewise one of the most despotic and overbearing, resented 
her influence on the Emperor and became jealous of the 
affection between the handsome young couple. Indeed, she 
actually became the leader of the cabal against Elizabeth, 
whom she treated as a personal enemy. 

It is, therefore, not surprising that finding no sympathy 
around her the sorely-tried girl should have turned some years 
after her marriage to those out-door sports and violent bodily 
exercises with which she has so frequently been taunted. She 
doubtlessly adopted them as the surest means to drive off by 
physical exhaustion the pain and disappointment that were 
o-nawino- at her heart, and often has she said that the best and 



tf^ WITHIN ROYAL l>ALAC£g. 

most trustworthy friends that she ever had were herhofses and 
dogs. 

The Empress is clever, by nature and culture, by intellect 
and insight, really delicately clever, with both aptitude and 
an unsatiable appetite for learning and scholarship, with- 
out, however, a vestige of the blue-stocking about her. 
Immediately after the honey-moon was over she devoted 
several hours a day to the careful study of the frightfully 
difficult Hungarian language, selecting as her teacher, after 
a while, the learned editor of the " Pesther Lloyd." Her 
choice was bitterly criticised, for not only in his paper, but 
also by his speeches in the Hungarian Lower House of Parlia- 
ment, did the editor-in-chief of the great Hungarian 
organ lead a strong opposition against the Government 
Taking no heed of all the gossip aroused by her doings, the 
Empress persevered in her lessons- and soon became an ex- 
cellent Hungarian scholar, besides making a firm and staunch 
friend of Deputy Falk. So interested did she become 
in her studies that when tired out by some irksome Court 
function she would always prepare her lesson before retiring 
to bed and on several occasions even translated some Hun- 
garian exej-clses on the fly-leaf of a book after lying down, 
"in order to show her good will and her anxiety for rapid 
progress" as she laughingly remarked to her delighted teacher 
when he appeared before her on the following day. 

Never has Elizabeth failed to find solace and consolation 
in study and she acquired a great deal of sound knowledge 
on all arts and sciences, with a true taste that never led her 
wrong. When interested in her subject she talks well In 
graceful a^d well chosen language of which she speaks seven 
fluently. Her conversation always discloses without eflbrt, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. rig 

the resources of a cultured and learned mind, and though 
understood by few she is, notwithstanding, as near perfect as 
it is possible for human nature to be. A habit which may 
possibly be considered as incompatible with her delicate 
nature is, that she smokes from thirty to forty Turkish and 
Russian cigarettes a day and for many years it has been her 
inveterate custom to puff away after dinner at a strong Italian 
cigar, one of those with a straw running through it, and which 
is brought to her with a cup of Turkish coffee every evening 
on a gold salver. She says herself that smoking soothes her 
nerves and that whenever she feels " blue '' a clear or a 
cigarette will do more than anything else to cause her to see 
things in a happier light. She is a perfect Greek and Latin 
scholar, and when writing she smokes almost continually. On 
her writing table are always a large silver box of repousse work, 
filled with cigarettes, a match-box of carved Chinese jade, and a 
capacious ash receiver, made of the hoof of a favorite hunter, 
which broke its spine over a blackthorn hedge several years 
ag'o durinor one of the Autumn meets at Schloss Godollo in 
Hungary. The Empress caused the handsome mare's 
front hoofs to ])e mounted in silver In the form of ash 
receivers, and gave one to the Emperor, the other constitut- 
ing always part and parcel of her dressing-case wherever she 
goes. Almost mechanically Her Majesty lights cigarette after 
cigarette, as she sits in her great writing-room at Godollo, 
which is fitted up with carved-oak panels and Gobelin tapes- 
tries, the sombre hue of the walls belnor relieved here and 
there by trophies of the chase. Any one who has the oppor- 
tunity of examining closely the slender, white hand of the 
Imperial lady will certainly have noticed a faint yellow stain 
on the first and second fingers of the left hand caused by the 



526 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

cigarette But Elizabeth's brain has not been dulled, nor has 
her marvelous beauty been impaired by nicotine. For she 
still remains not only one of the lovehest, but also one of the 
most quick witted, spirituelle and intellectual women of the 
age. 

She plays superbly on the zither, one of the most difficult 
of intruments. It is her constant companion and a never fail- 
ing solace in those moments of despondency which have of 
late become so frequent. Its beautiful and at the same time 
mournful tones, when wailing forth one of those . plaintive 
"Lieders" of the Kearnthner Mountains seem to be thor- 
oughly in accord with the heart and mind of the sorely tried 
Imperial lady. She takes a special pleasure on clear summer 
nights in sitting in a boat drifting aimlessly on the moonlit 
waters of the Gmunder or Kaernthner sea, with her instru- 
ment on her lap awakening the magical echoes of the moun- 
tains by the stirring melodies which her supple fingers bring 
forth. 

It is hardly to be wondered at that Empress Elizabeth 
should so much prefer Hungary to Austria, for the Hungar- 
ians have ever shown her a loyalty and affection which may 
have well touched her heart. The ceremonies which took 
place on her first visit to Buda-Pesth are still present to the 
memory of all those who witnessed them and aroused the 
genuine enthusiasm of the young Sovereign, so vividly that 
even now she cannot speak of them without emotion. The 
town was crowded with Magyars from the Bakos Plain, Suab- 
ians from the mountains west of the town, Slovkos from North 
Hungary, Servians and Croatians from the southern dis- 
tricts, and even long-haired Saxons from Transylvania, with 
different Corporations, Unions and Guilds, carrying banners, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



52t 



the honored veterans of the war of 1848-49 in their old uni- 
forms, and the school-boys, numbering in all forty thousand 
persons, lined the streets from the Western Railway Station 
to the Royal Castle, a distance of six kilometres. Those in- 
vited by the Government or the Municipal authorities occupied 
seats on the official tribunes. When their Majesties issued from 
the station deafening cries of " Eljen !" were raised and were 
kept up throughout the route uninterruptedly. The Emperor 
and Empress rode in a State-carriage drawn by four white 
horses. Directly the procession began to move, a salute of 
one hundred and one minute guns was fired from the citadel 
on the Gellert. The procession was headed by mounted 
police, followed by the carriage of the Governor of the city 
and Chief of Police. 

The escort of one hundred and eighty-two aristocrats was 
a magnificent sight. Six pairs of cavaliers, whose horses 
were led by armour bearers in handsome dresses, were fol- 
lowed by four mounted Magnates, each of whom carried a 
banner. The others came in pairs, each horse being led by 
one or two armour bearers. All the nobles wore the 
splended dress of the Magnates adorned from the kalpak, or 
head covering — which is surmounted by heron's feathers — 
down to the high boots with gold embroidery and precious 
stones. The reins, gilt stirrups, and the shabracks and golden 
scabbards of the scimitars were covered with diamonds 
and jewelry, some of them being worth a fortune. The car- 
riage was accompanied by the Adjutant General and by the 
Hungarian Minister. The procession was followed by three 
carriages, containing Court officials, and several hundreds of 
the carriages of the members of the Episcopacy and the 
House of Magnates. Most of the coaches and harness were 



52^ Within royal palaces. 

covered with gold and silver. The pageant went at a foot 
pace through the decorated streets, amid the cheers of several 
hundred thousand spectators. The English know how to 
cheer, but their " hurrahs " are not to be compared for volume 
of sound with the thundering " Eljens " of the Magyars. 
Maidens dressed in white showered flowers on the road fol- 
lowed by the procession, invoking blessings on the head of 
their handsome young Sovereign and his lovely consort. 

Whenever Elizabeth has come to Hungary she has always 
since been received with the same loud "Eljen" and the 
same exuberant joy, a fact that has strongly contributed to 
make her love the Magyar race. 

The most notable feature of the coronation of Emperor 
Francis Joseph and Empress Elizabeth as King and Queen 
of Hungary a quarter of a century ago, was the reconcilia- 
tion of the Emperor Monarch to his consort. It is needless 
to refer here to the circumstances which led to the Empress's 
momentarily bitter sentiments against her husband, feelings 
which years and grief have now long since conquered, but 
which, nevertheless, have had a permanently saddening 
influence upon the noble woman's life. 

The circumstances, such as they were resulted in an almost 
complete separation of the Imperial couple in the year 1859, 
a separation which of course soon became the talk of all 
Europe, The Kaiserium left Vienna at the time and abso- 
sutely refused under any consideration whatsoever to grant 
the Emperor even ever so short an interview. She at first 
took up her abode at Corfu, where she remained up to the 
hour when hearing that her husband was about to leave Trieste 
in order to join her, she immediately boarded her yacht and set 
sail for the Island of Minorca. Thither the Emperor followed 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



523 



her but did not succeed in meeting her, for barely eight hours 
before the Emperor's yacht reached Minorca the Empress 
had fled to Madeira, from whence she proceeded to the north 
cruising in the British Channel, with a view of finally eluding 
her husband, 

Francis Joseph 
much disturbed by 
his wife's persistence 
in avoiding him gave 
up the attempt of see- 
ing her and returned 
to Vienna in a most 
unenviable frame of 
mind. 

Until the year 1867, 
did this estrangement 
last, the august couple 
only meeting on very 
few State occasions 
and in the most for- 
mal and distant man- 
ner. It was then that 
the Emperor's rela- 
tives and principal 
advisers alarmed by 
the delicate health and frail constitution of Crown Prince 
Rudolph who was the only son, and heir to the throne, 
determined to bring about a reconciliation between Francis 
Joseph and Elizabeth. The complications which threatened to 
ensue in connection with the succession to the throne of Hun- 
gary were the Crown Prince to die in his childhood alarmed 




ARCHDUCHESS JIARIA THERESA. 



5^4 



Within royal PALActeS. 



everybody, for at the time the relations between the Magyar 
Kingdom and the Austrian Empire were of far less friendly 
nature than they have since become, and difficulties in the man- 
agement of the dual empire were greatly to be feared. Accord- 
ingly, the Empress was approached in the matter both by her 
husband's relatives and by the leading statesmen, who 
appealed to her not on personal but on patriotic grounds, 
and entreated her to resume once more her position as the 
Emperor's wife. 

Her Majesty for many a day declined to listen to these 
overtures, but finally wearied by the downright persecution 
to which she was being subjected at the hands of her hus- 
band's and her own family she consented to take part in the 
Coronation ceremonies at Buda-Pesth on the 8th of June, 
1867, and on the evening of that day the citizens of the 
ancient Maygar capital were drinking toasts not alone in 
honor of their newly crowned King and Queen but also in 
honor of the reco illation between Francis Joseph and his 
beautiful wife. 

In the following spring Her Majesty gave birth to her 
third and favorite child, Archduchess Marie- Valerie. Since 
that time a perfect understanding has existed between hus- 
band and wife, and if no longer lovers they are at any rate 
firm friends, who have been drawn more closely together by 
the grief consequent upon the tragical death of their only 
son, than they have been since the year 1859. 

Empress Elizabeth's favorite child has always been Arch- 
duchess Marie-Valerie, as I remarked above. The Arch- 
duchess is not a pretty woman, her features being too 
decidedly Hapsburg for that, but she possesses a great charm 
of manner, and has her mother's willowy figure, slender feet, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. [-2^ 

perfect hands and exquisite look of refinement and un- 
equalled distinction. The young Archduchess has been her 
mother's almost constant companion, and was educated 
by the highly gifted and talented Bishop Ronay, who 
had previously been the tutor of the ill-fated Archduke 
Rudolph. 

From her tenderest childhood the very atmosphere in 
which Valerie moved has been redolent of fidelity, of courage, 
and of dignity. She is extremely fascinating and has not a 
grain of self-consciousness or self-assertion. Her appear- 
ance is very ethereal and delicate, but that delicacy of mould 
sheathes nerves of steel, and her slender, supple frame can 
stand more fatigue than that of many a stronger looking 
woman. She swims like an otter, rides almost as well as her 
mother, fences and shoots with great skill, and is a sure-footed 
mountaineer. Her education has been pushed further than 
is generally the case with young girls of her position. She 
knows Latin and Greek, speaks seven or eight languages, 
draws and paints with great talent, and sings with a singular 
richness and power, her voice being pure and strong with 
a tone in it of unconscious emotion. 

Marie-Valerie has inherited all her mother's love for sport 
and out-door life. She delights in taking long and tiring 
walks, and is never so happy as when among her dear Ober- 
osterelch mountains. Late in the autumn she has often 
donned a fur-lined riding habit and mounting a pony well 
used to the hills she has wandered on the frozen paths of the 
Glockner range. She knows every step of the way up to the 
spurs of the great mountains and would ride till the ascent 
orew too steep for her horse, then leaving the latter with her 
attendant jaeger she would seize her alpenstock and go on 



526 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



her way over the gigantic boulders, breathing with delight the 
icy blast from the snow covered summits of the Adler-Spitz. 
Of course there is danger in such expeditions but the young 
Archduchess is used to the mountains, and keeps to the right 

path regardless 
of the fierce 
winds tearinor ^tt 
her clothes and 
of the proximity 
of the yawning 
abysses beneath 
her. 

A n incident 
which gives a 
clue to the de- 
cision and en- 
ergy of her char- 
acter is the com- 
plete cessation 
o f Intercourse 
between herself 
and her foster, 
or adopted sister 
Princess Aglae 
Auersperg, who 
losing her moth- 
er when she was yet a tiny baby was adopted by Empress 
Elizabeth and brought up entirely with Archduchess Valerie. 
They were literally like twin sisters until some time before 
the death of Archduke Rudolph. 

About that time a rumor became current in Court circles 




ARCHDUCHESS VALERIE. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. ^27 

that Crown Prince Rudolph was paying a good deal of atten- 
tion to pretty Aglae, who shortly after started on a voyage to 
the East under the escort of an old governess. It was only a 
few months later that the tragedy of Meyerling brought sor- 
row and consternation all over the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 
and many people connected the apparent disgrace of beauti- 
ful Aglae with Rudolph's violent death, notwithstanding the 
fact of his apparently passionate and openly avowed love for 
Baroness Marie-Vetesra. When Princess Aglae returned to 
Vienna some months ago it became almost a certainty in 
every body's mind that something was radically wrong. For 
not only did the Empress refuse to receive her, but Archduch- 
ess Valerie meeting her former beloved friend accidently in 
public looked her straight in the face without a gleam of rec- 
ognition in her large blue eyes, and passed on her way, draw- 
ing herself up to her full height and leaving the Princess's 
low curtsey unreturned. 

It was also noticed that as the Archduchess moved off a 
terrible anger suddenly seemed to sweep over her delicate, 
proud face; her lips were pale with the force of the restraint she 
visibly put upon herself, and her slender, white hands were 
clinched on the handle of her fan with a vice-like grip. Yet 
a tenderer love never united two girls than that which Valerie 
and Aglae felt for one another. They were inseparable and 
it is difficult to understand how so deep a feeling can have died 
out so completely in the heart of Archduke Franz Salvator's 
fair wife. Had she no thought of the merry days when in the 
little Tyroler house which was built for the particular amuse- 
ment of the Imperial children in the Park of Schoenbrunn, she 
used to play so happily with her little friend, cooking doll's 
dinners in the miniature kitchen and sharing every toil and 



528 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



pleasure with her ; on the long summer afternoons when they 
ran hither and thither in a very ecstacy of delight at the 
beauty of the daisies and golden king cups, which they 
gathered amid the long grass ? The question is impossible 
to answer, for like all questions connected with the dead 
Crown Prince it is wrapped in the deepest and most pro- 
found mystery. 

The marriage of the young Archduchess Valerie to 
her cousin, the Archduke Francis Salvator, was of unusual 
interest not only in her father's dominions, but also abroad, 
by reason of the fact that her Imperial Highness had, since 
her birth, been the favorite child of her parents, the living 
token of the reconciliation which was brought about between 
them by the statesmen of the dual empire on the eve of their 
coronation as King and Queen of Hungary in 1867. More- 
over, the young Archduchess, concerning whose unaffected 
ways and kindly heart innumerable anecdotes are current 
among the people, has always been the constant companion of 
her mother and her loving comforter and consoler at the time 
of the terrible tragedy at Meyerllng. Never parted even for 
a day from her daughter, some anxiety prevailed among Her 
Majesty's entourage respecting the manner in which she 
would bear the separation when the Archduchess entered 
upon her married life at Castle Lichtenegg near Wels, a 
garrison town three hours from Vienna, where the regiment 
to which the Archduke belongs is stationed. The Empress, 
however, as she always does In the important moments of her 
life showed her sense and judgment In conquering the dis- 
tress caused by this separation, and looks to the frequent 
visits exchanged between mother and daughter to make up 
for the dreariness caused by the absence of her beloved girl. 



53^ Within royal palaces. 

The marriage turned out excellently, the young couple being 
admirably suited to one another. The Archduchess Valerie 
has a graceful figure, a face full of intelligence, although one 
that is not beautiful, her eyes are dark blue, and her nose 
delicately modelled. Her former teachers all speak in the 
warmest praise of her goodness, her amiability and her 
literary abilities. Of the last quality she has given evidence 
by the production of several charming poems and admirable 
essays, which found a pubHsher and enjoyed a wide-spread 
sale. 

Wheresoever she goes she plays the part of a fairy god- 
mother to the poor children, strewing gifts and bestowing 
bounty where she feels they will give the most enjoyment and 
be the most welcome. 

Archduke Francis Salvator is a son of the Archduke Carl 
Salvatorand the Archduchess Maria-Immaculata, the daughter 
of King Ferdinand II of Naples. He is therefore a descend- 
ant of the Tuscan branch of the Hapsburgs. 

He is tall, well built, has a dark complexion, is a bold rider, 
a good soldier, and enjoys a large share of popularity. 

Their little daughter, Archduchess Elizabeth, Maria, Fran- 
cisca, Carolina, Ignatia, the youngest member of the Austrian 
Imperial family, made her appearance in this world under 
somewhat sombre circumstances, for her birth took place al- 
most simultaneously with the death of her great grandmother, 
the Duchess Ludovica in Bavaria; that of her grandfather. 
Archduke Carl Salvator, and that of her great aunt, the 
Duchess Maximilian, in Bavaria. But the advent of the tiny 
princess brightened like a welcome sun-ray the gloom pervad- 
ing the Imperial palace. 

The christening of the little Archduchess, in spite of the 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



531 



sadness which all these succeeding deaths had cast over the 
Imperial family was a very pretty and brilliant affair. 

Every appearance of mourning had vanished from the 
Imperial palace on Tuesday, February 2, 1892, in honor of 
the wee Archduchess, who was christened in the largest draw- 
ing room of the so-called " Franz Carl Apartments." 

The great salon had been arranged like a chapel, the walls 
being covered with purple velvet draperies and lined with 
blossoming plants. An altar had been erected at the upper 
end, to the right and left were rows of purple velvet arm- 
chairs for the guests. Two tables were placed on either side 
of the altar. On one of them were the huee orolden ewer 
and golden christening font. The other which was uphol- 
stered in white velvet, was prepared for the undressing of 
the babe. Before the altar the Imperial and Royal Chaplain, 
Monsignor Laurenz Meyer, in white surplice and stole, 
and the two court chaplains, awaited the entrance of the 
infant. 

The Empress looked handsomer than ever. She wore a 
dove-gray satin gown with long square train entirely covered 
by superb " point d' Alencon " lace. Over the corsage which 
was made high to the throat, was a " zouave " of the same 
costly fabric. Her Majesty's wonderful hair was braided 
and coiled around her head in the ordinary fashion, and a 
diadem of gigantic diamonds sparkled above her brow. The 
Emperor was in the uniform of Field Marshal with the Grand 
Cross of St. Stephen and the Order of the Golden-Fleece. 
Crown Princess Stephanie looked unusually well in a dress 
of pinkish heliotrope, brocaded with white primroses. Ropes 
of pearls were wound in her fair hair. Beautiful Archduchess 
Maria Theresa wore a mauve velvet train and bodice over a 



53^ WITHIN ROVAL PaLACES. 

petticoat of white satin, veiled by mauve silk crepe. The 
train was edged with a thick " cordon " of Neapolitan and 
Russian violets, sprinkled with diamond dew-drops, and about 
her throat was a boa of the same fragrant blossoms, which 
reached down to the hem of her skirts. All the ladies were 
in high-necked dresses and wore white, pale gray or soft 
shades of lavender, mauve and heliotrope. 

The aspect of the improvised chapel was lovely, filled as it 
was with exquisite flowers, perfectly dressed women and 
men arrayed in glittering uniforms. Between the windows 
were consols decorated with groups of feathery palms, white 
azaleas and tea roses. On the altar stood tall gold vases 
filled with snowy lilies, and gold chandeliers where pink con- 
secrated candles gleamed softly. 

The baby was brought in at ten minutes past twelve o'clock 
on a white satin and lace cushion, by Archduchess Marie 
Valerie's lady-in-waiting, Baroness Veczey, accompanied by 
Chamberlain Baron Lederer. The young father. Archduke 
Franz Salvator, walked behind his new-born child, and when 
she was carried to the altar he took his place beside the god- 
mother, Empress Elizabeth, who stood with the Emperor to 
the left of the altar. Baron Nopesa, Grand-Master of the 
Empress's Household, remained behind Her Majesty, holding 
a christening candle which he afterward handed to the fair 
Sovereign, 

The officiating priest, having put the ordinary questions to 
the Imperial godmother, the infant was completely undressed 
and brought once more to the altar. Empress Elizabeth, 
with the fingers of her right hand under the little one's shoul- 
ders, made the vows, whereupon the exorcism began. The 
chaplain, breathing three times on the infant to drive away 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. r-^ 

the devil which is supposed to inhabit the soul of the un- 
christened, then, in a loud tone of voice commanded the 
wicked spirit to depart, using the solemn words of the ancient 
rite. Having thus driven forth the unclean breath of evil, he 
touched the infant's ears and nostrils with his moistened fin- 
ger, pronouncing the Scriptural word " Epheta " (Be opened) 
— man in his natural state being, spiritually speaking, both 
deaf and dumb. He then put salt on the tongue and 
anointed the breast, the shoulders and the forehead of the in- 
fant. The holy chrism was applied, and lastly the holy water 
from the River Jordan was poured three times in the form 
of a cross over the child's head and shoulders. When the 
baby was dressed again, the priest blessed it anew with the 
words " Vade in pace et Dominus tecum," the Empress 
answering, "Amen," and kissing her little goddaughter very 
tenderly. 

These christenings at Court are a very interesting cere- 
mony to witness, but are in truth attended by few, for they 
are naturally considered as an occasion when none but the 
members of the family and the members of the household 
are allowed to be present, especially when the reigning 
family is in mourning, as was the case in that instance, the 
strictest privacy is observed. 

Three days before the christening was the anniversary of 
Crown Prince Rudolph's tragical death, and the Emperor and 
Empress visited the Capuchin Church were the body of their 
beloved son lies buried. Numerous beautiful wreaths were 
deposited on the sarcophagus, including a large crown of 
palms, laurels, yellow roses and lilies of the valley, laid there 
in the name of the German Emperor. The widowed Crown 
Princess Stephanie also visited the vault later in the evening 



c^A WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

to pray beside her husband's remains. A requiem mass was 
said In the Josefs Kappelle. 

The Capuchin Church, which is attached to the Capuchin 
Monastery on the Mehlmarkt, is one of the finest and most 
ancient places of worship in Vienna. Since the year 1633, 
the members of the House of Austria have been placed there 
after death, and the vaults now contain 114 Imperial coffins. 
It is said thac the Empress Maria Theresa one night when she 
was praying there beside her husband, Franz von Lothringen's 
tomb, had a vision announcing to her that her days were 
numbered. This took place on November 2, 1780, and she 
died on the 29th of the same month. During the reign of 
her son, the great Emperor Joseph, it was discovered that 
under the church were dark and fearful stone cells where 
criminals were detained unknown to the authorities. The 
Emperor caused the monastery to be searched and a large 
number of wretched human beings were found there en- 
tombed alive. Several of them had gone insane from sheer 
despair during the awful years of their incarceration. The 
Father Superior was severely punished by the Emperor, re- 
moved from his office, and then handed over to the Pope who 
dealt most unmercifully Math him. 

Empress Elizabeth has never cared for her daughter-in-law, 
Crown Princess Stephanie. Even at the time when the mar- 
riage took place she displayed a very marked coolness toward 
her son's Belgian bride. In this instance as in many others, 
Her Majesty gave proof of her great knowledge of human 
nature for the unhappiness of the Crown Prince's marriage 
and the disastrous termination thereof were mainly due to the 
sulky, disagreeable and jealous character of Archduchess 
Stephanie. The relations betw^een the widowed Princes^ 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. r-ir 

:\pA her parents-in-law are therefore exceedingly strained, 
The Empress, whose mind has never entirely recovered 
from the shock caused by the tragical death of her son, holds 
Stephanie directly responsible for the circumstances which 
led thereto. In a lesser degree, the sentiments of the Em- 
press are shared by most of the members of the Imperial 
Family. For they are all of the opinion that if Stephanie had 
shown more good-temper, patience and affection toward her 
husband, the latter would be still in the land of the living. 
The only person who championed her cause until recently, 
and to whom she could look for kindness and for friendship, 
in the species of ostracism to which she is condemned by her 
husband's relatives, was the Emperor. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, she has now quarreled with him on the subject of her 
little daughter, Elizabeth. The child was consigned by Ru- 
dolph to the guardianship of the Emperor, as chief of the 
family. His Majesty was content to leave his granddaughter 
to the care of Stephanie as long as the latter remained in 
Vienna or in the neighborhood thereof. But when the 
Crown Princess who is unpopular there, and who in conse- 
quence dislikes the Austrian capital very much, expressed a 
wish to take the child wherever her own inclination led her, 
the Emperor refused to consent thereto. Of course Ste- 
phanie bitterly resents this, all the more as it has given rise 
to all kinds of rumors as to the reasons which have led the 
kindly and courteous Francis Joseph to adopt so uncompro- 
mising an attitude toward his daughter-in-law. It is openly 
stated in official circles that her behavior during the. years 
of her widowhood has been marked by indiscretions which 
have been a source of great distress to the Emperor. Not 
only has she neglected her child in the most pointed manner, 



536 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



by leaving her alone at Laxenburg, and entirely without any 
near relative upon whom to lavish her love, for weeks, and 
sometimes whole months together, while she herself was 

traveling^ 
about i n 
France and 
Austria, but 
moreover, 
her name 
became con- 
nected first 
with an Aus- 
trian noble- 
man, and 
subsequent- 
ly with that 
of a Hun- 
garian mag- 
nate, in such 
a mann er 
that it was 
■^ even public- 
ly alleged 
that she was 
morganat- 
ically mar- 
ried to one 
or the other 
of them. 

The Empress like almost every other Austrian has been 
deeply shocked by the flightv and altogether Inappropriatg 




II 



CROWN PRINCESS STEPHANIE AND DAUGHTER. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



5o7 



behavior of Princess Stephanie. Not only has the Crown 
Princess been tactless enough to forget to make any mani- 
festation of sympathy or regetwhen the chapel at Meyerling 
was consecrated and at the services held in memory of her 
dead husband, but she has lono- since cast mournine ear- 
ments to the winds, decked herself in the gayest attire and 
taken her seat every day for three weeks among the worth- 
less women who spend their days at the gambling tables of 
Monte Carlo, during her travels to the south of France. 

There can be no doubt that the Crown Princess was the 
cause of all her husband's sorrows, and that he was driven 
by the miserable life he led with his wife to seek consolation 
elsewhere. 

It is well known at Vienna that on the day before the 
tragedy the Prince had a long and stormy interview with his 
father, from whom he parted with blanched cheeks and every 
appearance of great mental distress. It was no secret that 
the subject of the interview was an attempt by the Emperor 
to bring about a reconciliation, or at any rate a " modus 
vivendi " between the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. 
The latter had publicly announced her determination of 
declining to submit any longer to what she termed her hus- 
band's neglect, and was making preparation to return to 
her home in Belgium, a project for the execution of which 
she had secured the approval of her parents, King Leopold 
and Queen Henriette. It was with a view of averting this 
scandal that the monarch expostulated with his son. 

Exactly what passed between father and son is impossible 
to say, for no one else was present. But it is probable that 
the Archduke repeated his assertions that nothing could ever 
induce him to live ao:ain with his wife and that he was 



r-?8 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

perfectly willing that she should leave Austria forever. 

The role played by the Crown Princess has been from 
beginning to end an unfortunate and a heartless one. 
Rudolph would have been a different man had it not been 
for the baneful influence his wife exercised over him. I 
knew him for many years and may say in all truth that he 
was one of the most chivalrous, kind-hearted and religious 
young men I have ever met, and that I for one, know perti- 
nently that the change in his whole being which led to the 
tragedy of Meyerling can be laid justly at the door of the 
sour-tempered, overbearing, narrow-minded woman whom 
he was so unfortunate as to marry. 

Rudolph showed in many ways the lasting effects of the 
influence exercised upon his character by his teachers. The 
pronounced tastes for natural studies which won for the ill- 
fated Archduke the reputation of being one of the foremost 
zoologists and ornithologists of Europe were due to the 
teachings of his tutor. Professor Brehm. The many noble 
and lovable phases of his nature were attributable to the 
fostering care and guidance of that most charming and sim- 
ple minded of prelates, Monsignor Ronay ; while the particu- 
lar defects of the Prince's character which constituted the 
shadow of his life may be traced to Admiral Count Bombelles. 
The selection of the latter as mentor of the Archduke was 
about the very worst choice that could have been made and, 
was due to favor and court intrigue rather than to an')' merit 
on the part of the Admiral. He was the son of Count Henri 
Bombelles, who was the tutor of the present Emperor of 
Austria, and was the nephew of Count Paul Bombelles, who 
was the third husband of the widow of Napoleon i, the 
Empress Marie Louise, of France. Exceedingly talented 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



539 



and accomplished in every possible way, his notions of 
morality were loose in the extreme ; and as such he was the 
last person who should have been chosen to fill the post of 
governor and tutor to a Prince who had inherited all the tra- 
ditional failing of the Hapsburg race with regard to the fair 
sex. His death took place a few months after the affair of 
Meyerling — a tragedy for which the Emperor held him in a 
great measure accountable, and to which he owed his dis- 
grace and exile from Court. 

Count Bombelles it may be stated was in attendance on 
Empress Charlotte of Mexico in 1866, and 1867, when she 
visited Napoleon III and Pius IX for the purpose of invoking 
the assistance of the one and the influence of the other in 
behalf of her husband Maximilian. And it was the Count 
who first became aware of her insanity, and who was intrusted 
with all the arrangements for placing her under restraint. 

The first anniversary of the Crown Prince's death was 
celebrated with much solemnity throughout Austria and 
Hungary by the people. But the clergy in quite a number of 
places created a painful sensation by refusing to perform the 
" Seelen Messe," or " Bout de I'an " mass in consequence 
of the circumstances connected with the Prince's death. The 
most glaring instance of this utter absence of charity was at 
Botzen, in the Tyrol, where the widowed Crown Princess was 
staying. Having sent to -request the dean of the cathedral 
to celebrate the cu-stomary mass for the repose of her hus- 
band's soul, he curtly declined either to perform it himself, 
or permit it to take place in the cathedral. The ceremony 
therefore took place in the parish church of Cries, a little vil- 
lage in the neighborhood of Botzen. Much disagreeable 
comment was caused by the failure of Stephanie to return to 



540 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Vienna tor the sad anniversary, in order to accompany the 
Emperor, the Empress and Archduchess Valerie to Meyer- 
Hng for the purpose of being present with them at the cere- 
mony of the consecration of the chapel erected on the spot 
where her husband met his death. It was positively expected 
that she would have made a point of spending the day with 
her little daughter, and that she would have followed their 
Majesties' example in passing a few moments in prayer at the 
ill-fated Archduke's tomb in the vaults of the Capuchin Church 
in Vienna. But she unwisely absented herself, a fact which 
painfully impressed all those who so dearly loved the dead 
Prince. The visit of the Emperor and Empress with Arch- 
duchess Valerie to Meyerling on the 30th of January, just a 
year after the frightful death of " Rudi " as the Crown Prince 
was called by his parents, was marked by severalexceedingly 
pathetic incidents. The scene at the railway terminus, when 
starting on their pilgrimage to the fatal spot, was pitiful in 
the extreme. The Emperor had offered his right arm to his 
Consort, and with his left hand he was gently stroking the 
small, black-gloved hand that rested upon his sleeve, as he 
slightly bent toward her, murmuring words of consolation. 
-Archduchess Valerie followed closely behind ; the two ladies 
were attired in the deepest mourning, and were weeping 
bitterly. On reaching the chapel which has been erected on 
the scene of the tragedy at Meyerling, a mass was performed 
by the Abbot Baron von Grimmenstein, assisted by Count 
Chaplain Monsignor Meyer ; the pxiests kneeling at an altar 
of exquisitely carved Istrian marble, placed on the very spot 
where the bed had stood on which the Archduke had shot 
himself. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

OF 

AUSTRIA. 
II. 

THE Court Drawing-rooms when held by the Empress are 
very grand functions indeed, but Her Majesty has 
always shown much reluctance to fulfill her duties in connec- 
tion with the matter, and for many years abstained from be- 
ing present at any of these ceremonies. On January 21, 
1 89 1, she however consented in deference to the Emperor's 
positive wish to receive the debutantes of the year at the 
Vienna Hofburg. This reception being the first given at 
Court since the death of the Crown Prince Rudolph, prepa- 
tions of a very elaborate nature were made by the ladies who 
had received invitations thereto, and the scene was conse- 
quently a very gorgeous one. 

There were no less than fifty-six young debuantes anxiously 
awaiting their presentation to their sovereign. 

The aspect of the Hall of Ceremonies when the Imperial 
cortege made its entrance was absolutely fairy-like. Array- 
ed in superb uniforms and exquisite dresses were the very pink 
— the fine fleur — of the Austrian and Hungarian aristocracies, 
only those who could show the proper number of nobiliary 
quarterings, untarnished by any bourgeois or plebian stain. 
Any mesalliance on the part of an ancestor, even a couple of 
centuries back, is considered as sufficient there to render a 
woman, no matter how high her rank and her title., unworthy of 
being received at the etiquette-bound Court of Vienna. The 

(541) 



54^ Within roYal i^alaces. 

existence of this strict rule with regard to ancestry leads the 
great Houses of the Austro-Hungarian aristocracy to observe 
great care in their matrimonial alliances and to restrict their 
choice of partners for life to the members of their set. The 
consequence is that almost all those present on that day at 
the Hofburg were related to one another, calling each other 
by their Christian names. The diplomatic corps had not 
been invited, and consequently the company was limited to 
the Imperial family and to the great Houses of ancient 
nobility. The magnificent hall was brilliantly lighted, and the 
walls and consols were decorated with groups of feathery 
palms, white camellias and banks of violets. The long mir- 
rors between the windows were surrounded with thick wreaths 
of violets, heliotropes and pale yellow mimosa blossoms, with 
here and there a fragrant bunch of tea roses. Posted in the 
adjoining hall and salons were the Hungarian Body Guards, 
wearing the crimson silver-embroidered uniforms, high yellow 
boots and scarlet kalpaks, with a snowy heron's plume ; the 
Reiter Garde Escadron in dark green coats, gold epaulettes, 
white leather breeches and long patent leather boots, with 
silver helmets on their heads ; and the Body Guard of 
Archers. 

Four hundred invitations had been sent by Prince Hohenlohl 
the Grand Master of the Court. Count Tassilo-Festetics, 
who achieved notoriety some time previously by refusing to 
receive at his Castle of Keszthely, the Prince of Wales, be- 
cause he was accompanied by Baron Hirsch, wore the splen- 
did violet velvet dress of a Hungarian Magnate. It was 
trimmed with priceless sable and literally covered with jewels. 
The aigrette on his kalpak, the hilt of his sword and the 
broad golden belt around his waist were all sparkling with 



tHE IMPERIAL FAMILV OF AUSTRIA. ^^^ 

huge diamonds, sapphires and rubies. Count Ralffy was re- 
splendent in the purple velvet costume of a Poli:-h noble ; he 
also wore jewels of great value, and the front of his gold- 
laced coat was encrusted with pearls and emeralds. Many 
of the men wore the black velvet and white satin uniform of 
the Teutonic Order as also did Archduke Wilhelm, who 
is the Grand Master thereof. 

The orchestra was conducted as usual by " Eddy " Strauss. 
The " maestro," wearing his red Court-uniform, with sword 
and decorations, looked jubilant at exercising his functions of 
" Hofkapelmeister." At eight o'clock the doors at the upper 
end of the Throne-room were thrown open by two grooms of 
the Privy-Chamber, the band struck up the National hymn, 
and the Grand Master of the Ceremonies. Count Koloman 
Hunyadi, wearing the crimson and gold uniform of a general 
of calvary, with the Hungarian " Atilla " of white cloth, bor- 
dered with Russian sable, hanging by gold cords from the 
left shoulder, walked in backward, preceding the Imperial 
procession. With his ivory wand, the Grand Master struck 
the floor repeatedly to announce the Sovereign's approach. 
The procession came in the following order; First, Empress 
Elizabeth, with the Duke of Cumberland ; then the Duchess of 
Cumberland, with the Emperor ; the widowed Crown-Princess 
Stephanie, with Archduke Karl-Ludwig, and the Archduchess 
Marie-Theresa, with Archduke Ferdinand d'Este. Then came 
all the other Archdukes, Archduchesses, Princes and Prin- 
cesses of the Imperial family, followed by the Ladies and 
Gentlemen in waiting. Every eye in the room was turned 
toward Empress Elizabeth, who looked exceedingly beautiful; 
nobody could have believed her to be oyer ih'rty-five. She 
wore a very plain black crepe dress slightly embroidered 



544 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

with jet and bordered with black marabout feathers. The 
corsage was almost high to the throat, and around the neck 
was a boa of black marabout. The beautiful white arms were 
bare from the shoulder, where gauze draperies were fastened 
by jet epaulettes. A long Court mantle of black crepe, em- 
broidered with jet and lined throughout with black marabout 
trailed gracefully on the ground ; and a diadem of jet, from 
which a long black gauze veil fell down to the edge of the 
train glittered in her hair. She wore no jewels and the sombre 
hue of her garments was relieved only by the diamond deco- 
ration of the Sternkreuz attached to her left shoulder, and by 
the mysterious gleam of an enormous black diamond — unique 
in the world — which sparkled at her throat. In her gloved 
hands the Empress carried a cluster of Russian violets tied 
with black velvet ribbons. Crown-Princess Stephanie was 
also in black. Her velvet dress, cut very low, had a stomacher 
of diamonds, and in her blonde curls were three flat bands of 
diamonds. The black velvet Court-mantle was embroidered 
with seed pearls and silver ; and here and there it was looped 
up with bunches of diamond thistles. The Duchess of Cum- 
berland looked well in a dress of cloth-of-silver, with violet 
velvet train, silver lace half covering it. Ropes of pearls 
were braided in her hair, and she wore her famous collar, 
which is composed of twelve rows of pearls as large almost 
as robin's eggs, and which falls down to her waist. Lovely 
Archduchess Maria-Theresa wore a petticoat and train of 
white velvet, smothered in old Venetian point. A garland of 
real tea roses began at the left shoulder, was caught a little 
below the slender waist by a great diamond fleur-de-lys, fell 
gracefully down to the edge of the skirt, and then becoming 
gradually wider, surrounded the train with a broad band of 




I'HK WlIiOWFTi T'rIXCE-^s STEPHANIE. 



35 



54^ WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

fragrant buds and blossoms. A tiara of large diamond fleur- 
de-lys completed this beautiful toilette. Among the guests 
some of the prettiest and richest dresses were worn by 
Princess Valerie Windishgraetz, whose peach colored damask, 
brocaded with pansies in their natural colors, was greatly 
admired ; Countess Rosenberg, who was in pale yellow silk 
cloth, embroidered with wreaths of buttercups and shaded 
poppies ; Markgrafin Pallavicini in pearl-gray satin heavily 
wrought with gold and silver threads, the Court-mantle edged 
with Russian sable and powdered with diamond and ruby 
dragonflies, and Countess Larisch in sea-green velvet, wear- 
ing the historical Larisch family jewels. The hereditary 
Princess Schwarzenberg carried the palm that night with her 
exquitely pretty and girlish dress, which was like to the reali- 
zation of a poet's dream. The petticoat was composed of 
crumpled rose petals, of a very delicate shade of pink. The 
corsage of valencinnes lace was draped a la Greque and 
fastened on the shoulders by a cluster of Bengal roses ; and 
the train was formed by soft masses of pale pink crepe 
edged with rose petals and pink swansdown. 

The Empress as soon as she entered the room, advanced 
to where all the ladies present were standing and began to 
talk graciously to them in turns, and the Emperor walked up 
to the rows of bowing gentlemen ranged on the other side 
of the hall and conversed with them. He then joined the 
Empress and spoke quite long with Princess Hohenlohe, 
Countess Schonborn and many others. At nine o'clock the 
Empress, followed by Countess Goess, her Grand Mistress 
of the Robes, and Count by Nopcsa, her Master of Cere- 
monies, proceeded to the Rittersaal, where the debutantes 
were presented to her. The ceremony over, the Court, 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



547 



headed by the Emperor and Empress, repaired to the Hall 
of Mirrors, where tea was served. A superb buffet for the 
guests was prepared in the Pietradura-roorn. The Imperial 
tea-table was glittering with gold plate and Venetian glass, 
and was covered with Jacqueminot and Noisette roses, trails of 
which fell over the pale-blue silk and lace tablecloth down to 
the floor. At eleven o'clock their Majesties retired and half 
an hour later all the guests had left the Hof burg. 

This is of course only a sample of what a Court Reception 
is at Vienna, and that, not one of the grandest, for when there 
are foreign Royalties present the ceremony is all the more 
complicated and dazzling. One room is always set apart for 
the Diplomatic Corps, ladies of the Embassies and their 
visiting countrywomen standing to the rear of their respec- 
tive Ambassadresses, while on the other side of the room 
the secretaries and attaches of the Embassies, with their visit- 
ing countrymen, stand behind their respective Ambassadors. 

The following ceremony remains, however, the same at 
every Court Ball or Reception : 

The Emperor and Empress, as soon as they enter each 
succeeding room, part, the former striding up to where the 
men are ranged, the Empress advancing to where the ladies 
have taken up their position. To almost each of the men the 
Emperor addresses a friendly remark, some he honors with 
a grasp of the hand, while others unknown to him are pre- 
sented. The Empress, or, in her absence, the Archduchess, 
representing her, proceeds in similar fashion with the ladies. 
By the time they have reached the last room their Majesties 
change sides, the Empress passing up along the rows of men 
while the Emperor strolls up the opposite side graced by 
the fair sex. When they once more reach the Throne-room, 



r4.g WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

the Empress generally takes her place either on the dais or 
on a sofa, and sends her Master of Ceremonies to summon to 
her side the various Ambassadresses, with each of whom she 
converses in turn, and who are permitted to present once 
more to her notice those of their countrywomen who are 
making their debut at the Austrian Court. 

One of the State occasions on which the Empress seldom 
fails to put in an appearance is that of the " washing of the 
feet," on Thursday of Holy Week in the great Hall of Cere- 
monies of the " Hof burg," or Imperial Palace. 

Nowhere in the world have the Court functions and cere- 
monies of olden times retained so much of their picturesque 
splendor as at the Imperial Court of Austria. Probably the 
grandest and most interesting of all these is that of the wash- 
ing of the feet of twelve old men and twelve old women by 
the Emperor and Empress which takes place every year. 
Only at two other courts, namely, that of the Vatican and 
of Madrid, is this ancient ceremony observed, by the Pope 
and the Queen Regent respectively, though with far less mag- 
nificence than here. This scene is impressive in the extreme. 
' The Hall of Ceremonies, originally built as a bold projec- 
tion from the Burgf for the festivities held on the occasion of 
the Emperor Napoleon's marriage with Marie Louise is very 
beautiful. The light streaming in through the row of tall 
windows, causes the marble walls and columns to shine, and 
the red silk brocade to throw up a pink reflection that can be 
seen in the crystals of fifty lustres, and on the pure white 
walls and casements. The floor is waxed to perfection and 
reflects the rows of columns and the table spread for the 
twelve old men, raised upon a carpeted estrade. The table 
is gaily decked. On the white tablecloth stand twenty-four 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. caq 

quaint old painted wine jugs, twenty-four silver goblets, and 
twenty-four nosegays in slender vases ; and between these 
a wreath of pinks is strewn on the tablecloth, varying in shade 
from the palest pink to the darkest red, and sending up a de- 
licious perfume. When generals, officers, and high function- 
aries have half filled the room the old men are led in, each 
accompanied by two relatives, and all dressed in old German 
fashion — knickerbockers, hose and buckle shoes, a braided 
coat with a broad muslin collar, and a three-cornered hat, and 
are followed by the twelve old women equally well got up. 
The gigantic Guards in scarlet, with white horsetails on their 
helmets, escort the two oldest male and female to the place 
of honor which are especially coveted because the Emperor 
and Empress takes their place beside them. 

The Court clergy who officiate in the chapel enter at half 
past ten and take their places at the top of the room, where 
a reading desk stands ready with two tall wax candles at either 
side. The higher Court officials and the Ministers now make 
their appearance and take their places in front of the crowd 
of generals, officers and chamberlains already assembled. 
Then the Archdukes walk in and stand in a row facing the 
platform and the table at which it should be noted the old 
people sit only on one side. The Emperor and Empress 
come last, and mounting the platform place themselves at the 
end of the table, not In the position of the hosts but in that 
of servants. They immedttely speak to the oldest man and 
woman. The Archdukes bow low to the old men and women 
and then the Master of the Kitchen Count Von Wolkenstein 
marches in, heading the officials and pages who bring In the 
viands. Each of the twelve bearers stop at the entrance, 
with a page behind him, and the Emperor, followed by the 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Court Marshal advances slowly, takes the dishes two at a 
time, and carefully places them on the table. The offi- 
cers then march away, and the Archdukes advance 
and walk up the stairs to the table. A row of scarlet' 
body guards march up with wooden trays, which they rest 
on the right knee, having each placed a foot on the lower 
step of the platform. The Archdukes then clear the table* 
This scene is repeated five times, the only noise being the 
stalwart steps of the guards as they advance and withdraw. 
The old men eagerly watch what is going on, for of course 
they do not touch the viands, this being but a symbolical meal 
to be followed by a substantial one at home. 

After the dinner is over the tables are taken away, the old 
men and old women's shoes and stockings are removed, their 
knees covered with white clothes, and then the important part 
of the ceremony begins. The priest at the reading desk 
reads from the testament that portion of the gospel devoted 
to the description of Christ washing the feet of the apostles, 
and two Court priests advance with a basin and ewer each. 
The Emperor takes a towel and kneels down to dry the feet 
of each old man after the priest has poured water over them, 
the Empress meanwhile going through a similar performance 
with the women. Neither of the sovereigns arise from their 
knees until the last man or women's feet are washed, gliding 
from one to the other in a kneeling position. They then 
wash their august hands in another golden basin and dry 
them on a diaphanous lace-hemmed towel. Thereupon tak- 
ing twenty-four purses one at a time from the Court Marshal, 
and Grand- Mistress of the Robes respectively the Emperor 
and Empress hang them by a silken cord attached to each 
round the old pauper's necks, Each purse contains thirty 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



551 



pieces of gold, in memory of the price paid tor Christ's deliv- 
ery by Judas Iscariot. The ceremony being then over the 
old men and women are escorted to the carriages awaiting 
them and in which they are conveyed to their humble homes, 
with huge baskets containing an elaborate meal apiece — which 
would easily do for the whole twenty-four of them — together 
with bottles of fine old wines from the Imperial cellars. 

Nowhere is Christmas celebrated with so much fervor as at 
the Austrian Court. A few years ago when Archduchess 
Marie- Valerie was still a child, and when Crown-Prince Ru- 
dolph was alive, it used to be the most joyful day of the year 
for the Emperor and Empress. The "vie de famille ' is to be 
found wherever the Hapsburgs are, for nobody is more what 
the Germans call "gemuhtlich" than the members of this Fam- 
ily. When surrounded only by those she loves Empress 
Elizabeth's coldness and indifference vanish, her reserve 
breaks up, and she is transformed by what touches her sym- 
pathies and affections. The Emperor himself is never hap- 
pier than when giving pleasure to others, and Christmas eve 
has ever been his favorite fete day. Now since the Crown 
Prince's death, although the Court still mourns for its lost 
Prince, there are as usual two Christmas trees on the 24th of 
December — one for the family, and one which Archduchess 
Valerie still decorated with her own hands for a hundred 
poor children selected from families under her especial pro- 
tection. The great fir tree, glittering with gold and silver 
nuts, rosy cheeked apples and hundreds of gaily painted toys, 
is lighted at 4 o'clock in the afternoon in the Rittersaal, a 
splendid old room with painted casements, where Flemish 
tapestries, draperies of gold-colored velvet, and many escutch- 
eons in enamelled metal half CQver the wainscoated and finely 



552 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



carved walls. Every frame and mirror is garlanded with 
thick wreaths of mistletoe, and trails of variegated ivy and 
Christmas roses twine around the grim damascened armors 
which stand in a double row on both sides of the "saal". On 
the porphyry hearth a fire of aromatic logs burn, and adds its 
rosy glow to the radiance coming from the countless candles 
of the Christmas tree. Servants in State liveries throw open 
the heavy inlaid doors and admit the troops of enraptured 
children, who enter, making their bow of courtesy reverently, 
but without shyness, and range themselves in two lines, the 
boys on the right and the girls on the left of the Christmas 
tree. Archduchess Valerie, in a dress of plain white advances 
toward them, a happy, kindly smile on her young lips, her 
small hands filled with parcels, like a good fairy about to dis- 
distribute her gifts. Each child first receives warm clothes, 
boots, caps, handkerchiefs, and fur-lined gloves ; then the toys 
are given to them, and with cries of delight they jump and 
laugh as freely and merrilly as if they were in their own 
homes. When the noise has somewhat subsided the Arch- 
duchess bids them sing "Kaiser's Hymn". For a minute all 
is still ; then the grand melody rolls out under the high em- 
blazoned ceilings, the fresh, clear voices going upward like 
the carol of the lark. As the glad young voices drop into 
silence the doors at the lower end of the Rittersaal open, 
revealing a large hall, where a substantial feast is prepared. 
How wide all the youthful eyes open at the sight of the long 
table loaded with huge pieces of cold beef, haunches of veni- 
son, great plump turkeys and piles of daintily cut sandwiches. 
Wonderful cakes, studded with candied fruit, and showers of 
bon-bons, in capacious silver shells complete the feast, while 
the perfume of coffee and chocolate floats about. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. cc-y 

After dinner the family Christmas tree is lig'hted, the party 
around it consisting only of the Emperor and Empress, Arch- 
duchess Gisela and her four children ; her husband, Prince 
Leopold, of Bavaria ; Archduchess Valerie, her husband and 
baby and the orphaned child of Crown Prince Rudolph, 
i No table in the whole world is served so daintily or artisti- 
cally as that of the Austrian Court. Elmpress Elizabeth, who 
is a very small eater, often says that elegant surroundings, per- 
fect ease, vast space and soft, shadowy distances are abso- 
lutely necessary to preserve some illusions when we dine. 
Her exquisitely refined taste would prevent her from appre- 
ciating even the most delicate of meals were they not served 
in the most recherche manner, and all that priceless porce- 
lain, unique crystal and glass, and antique gold and silver 
plate can do to etherealize a meal is done at Vienna, Buda- 
Pesth, Godollo, or Ishl, whenever the fair Sovereign of Austro- 
Hungary consents to grace the one or the other of these 
Imperial palaces with her presence. The damask is so fine 
that it looks like satin, and for lunch or afternoon tea is re- 
placed by heavy white silk cloths and napkins, edged with 
Point de-Venise and adorned with the Imperial crest in raised 
gold embroidery. The viands are prepared so prettily that 
it seems almost a pity to break up and eat them, and the 
fairies themselves might feast on the tempting " pieces- 
montees" prepared by the artist who presides over the Im- 
perial kitchens. Particularly, I remember a dinner given in 
honor of the King and Queen of Italy, at the Hofburg, in 
Vienna, some years ago, as the culminating point of luxury 
combined with the most refined and exquisite taste. The 
table cloth was strewn with forced violets, nestling so close to 
one another that they formed a perfect bank of fragrant 



554 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

blossoms, leaving only room for the plates of semi-transpa- 
rent vSevres of the *' Famille-Rose," each of which was sur- 
mounted with a thick garland of marguerites. Marguerite 
being the Christian name of the Queen of Italy, her little 
namesakes had been used with great profusion in the decora- 
tion of the festive board. Before the plate of each lady, a 
slender tulip-shaped vase of Venetian glass, mounted in finely 
wrought gold, contained a bouquet of marguerites and violets, 
powdered with diamond dust. The menus were engraved on 
thin sheets of hammered gold, with the Austrian eagle em- 
bossed on the corner. Everything was served on gold dishes, 
and the dessert plates were a marvel of beauty worthy of Ben- 
venuto-Cellini. When the sorbets were placed before the 
distinguished guests a faint murmur of admiration was audible. 
For even the blase eyes of people satiated with every form 
of luxury were charmed with the little double-headed eagles 
made of delicately spun sugar, perched on a pale pink glass 
ball containing a tiny electric light. On the back of each 
diminutive bird was a large daisy, also made of spun sugar, 
wherein the sorbets were served, and the gold plates on 
which the whole rested were garlanded with Parma violets 
The dinner was really what one may describe without exag- 
geration as being the apotheosis of gastronomy. The dining 
hall, scented as with dreamy incenses, and lighted with mellow 
wax candles, the soft brilliancy of which would have entranced 
even Lucullus, had he been throned there on his ivory chair, 
was a sight to be remembered. 

The inspector of the Viennese Imperial kitchens, Mr. Kien- 
berger, has held his office for over forty years, and is quite 
an artist in his way. His ambition consists in making each of 
the dinner parties at the Hof burg the most successful thing 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. rrr 

of the kind In the world, and, like a general on the eve of 
battle, he never leaves the kitchens and still-rooms of the 
Palace during the last twenty-four hours before any great en- 
tertainment takes place. He personally superintends every 
detail, and, as he is a culinary genius himself, often concocts 
some particularly dainty delicacy which he alone can make. 
He is a great advocate of serving things artistically, and he 
told me one day, very gravely, that he thought a pigeon 
served on a gold dish was a more appetizing and pleasing 
viand than an ortolan sent in on a common china plate. 
The Imperial kitchens are kept with almost military precision 
and regularity, by the twenty-four chefs and assistant chefs. 
Each man has his distinct and well defined task. There is a 
chef for the entrees, one for the roasts, another one is the 
pastry cook, while the bakers, confiseurs, glaciers and disher- 
cup have all separate departments where they each reign 
supreme. Every imaginable dainty is produced at the Palace 
and the Empress herself comes down every Monday morn- 
ing, when in Vienna, to stroll through the kitchen and to see 
that everything is going on as it should. 

The duties of a Lady-in-waiting to the Empress are some- 
what fatiguing, especially when the Court is en villegiatura at 
GodoUo, in Hungary, for, as stated previously. Her Majesty is 
a very early riser. Every morning she attends mass in the 
private Chapel oi the Castle at six o'clock, which, of course, 
entails getting up soon after five. After Chapel, she takes a 
cup of strong black coffee, without sugar, milk or anything to 
eat, and then attended by her lady mounts her horse and gal- 
lops off through the magnificent park, especially adapted for 
riding. If the weather is bad the morning is divided between 
the immense riding school adjoining the Castle and the fencing 



556 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

hall. A few years ago in the riding school the Empress amused 
herself by performing in the most skillful manner possible all 
the equestrian feats, such as bareback riding, jumping through 
hoops, etc., usually seen at the circus. No one besides the Lady- 
in-waiting and the grooms are admitted to the riding school 
when she is there. She is a first-rate fencer, and never allowed 
a day to pass without at least half an hour with the foils. At 
eleven o'clock she returns to the Castle for a bath and breakfast. 
The latter is of the simplest kind, consisting of a minute morsel 
of very rare steak, dry toast, a cup of tea, without sugar or milk, 
and a glass of Montrose claret, the only person at table with 
her being the Lady-in-waiting. After lighting her cigarettes, 
she retires to her own apartments, where she remains until three 
o'clock, sometimes dozing, and at other times chatting with 
her Lady. At three, attended by her Lady, she again goes 
out riding, and only returns in time to dress for dinner at 
eight o'clock, at which the Emperor, the members of the Im- 
perial family, together with the personages of the Court are 
present. The Lady-in-waiting, to whom are entrusted her 
Majesty's gloves, fan and bouquet, is invariable seated at 
the table in the immediate vicinity of the Empress, who after 
dinner lights her eternal cigarette and smokes until ten o'clock, 
when she retires to rest. The Lady-in-waiting then proceeds 
ito the apartment of the Grand Mistress of the Robes to 
spend the remainder of the evening there in company with the 
chamberlains and aides-de-camp. It is hardly necessary to 
add that eight or ten weeks of such a life are sufficient to ex- 
haust the forces of even the strongest Lady-in-waiting. For 
apart from the necessity of being perpetually on the qui vive 
and always in good humor, it requires an exceptional consti- 
tution such as was that of the Empress herself to be able to 
spend every day seven or eight hours in the saddle. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 557 

The loss of Duchess Ludovica in Bavaria, Empress EHza- 
beth's mother, was universally mourned, for she was one of 
the most sympathetic Princesses in Europe. Remarkably 
well preserved for her eighty-four years, she was the sister of 
the Emperor of Austria's mother. Archduchess Sophia, and her 
talents were celebrated. She played the piano, the harmonium 
and the zither wonderfully, spoke Greek and Latin with amazing 
fluency, and was unusually clever. Possessing like her daughter, 
an insatiate appetite for learning and scholarship, she spent 
many hours daily in study, and the surprising manner in which 
her beauty even at her time of life, was preserved, may be ac- 
counted for by her invariable habit of riding and driving in all 
kinds of weather, and by the cold baths in which she indulged 
up to the time when she was taken sick. She was renowned 
as one of the most enlightened women of her day. The Em- 
peror of Austria, who is no mean judge of character, had the 
highest opinion of his mother-in-law's acumen, and used con- 
stantly to consult her about affairs of importance. It was she 
who was the first to point out to him the folly of attempting 
to conceal the fact that Crown-Prince Rudolph had committed 
suicide. Her husband who died a few years ago, shortly 
after the celebration of his golden wedding was somewhat ex- 
centric. He used to insist on his dogs being treated as if 
they were children He had dinner served to them on plates, 
they sitting at the table on chairs with dinner napkins around 
their necks and drinking out of glasses. In her youth the 
Duchess was renowned for her loveliness, and one of the 
most interesting pictures at the Palace of Laxemburg repre- 
sents her in the prime of her charms, surrounded by her five 
beautiful daughters. The Duchess was so proud of them in 
those days that when she used to walk out with all five she 



ccg Within royal palacks. 

exclaimed "Voila mon attelage de poste"! (Look at my 
team). At the age of eighty-three she was still an active 
woman in full possession of her mental faculties, though 
somewhat frail in body. American tourists on the Staren- 
berg Lake in the Bavarian Tyrol will remember the brief 
stoppage of the steamer at Possenhofen Pier and the gray- 
haired old lady who was generally standing on the slope of 
the chateau grounds, acknowledging with stately courtesy the 
respectful salute of the captain and the passengers. 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY 

OF 

AUSTRIA. 
III. 

AS long as the Crown-Prince Rudolph was alive, the Arch- 
duke Charles Louis was a personage of very little im- 
portance, even in his own country. His immense wealth gave 
him a certain social prcstage, his refined taste and general cul- 
ture tendered him an authority upon literature and art, but, so 
far as the world of statecraft was concerned, he had no influence 
whatever. He was popularly supposed to have a profound 
distaste for public life, and to be strongly antagonistic to the 
Imperial Ministers ; but no shred of evidence was ever ad- 
vanced in support of this view of his character, excepting the 
fact of his persistantly tabooing the mere mention of politics 
in his presence. 

Although he is now the second personage in the Austro- 
Hungarian Empire, yet he still persists in keeping entirely out- 
side of any public or political questions. So much so indeed, 
that a rumor got abroad in Austria to the effect that he wished to 
renounce his right to the succession. The first time, however, 
that anyone ventured to hint to the Archduke that he 
would do well formally to resign his position in favor of his 
son, he allowed it to be seen plainly enough that nothing was 
farther from his thoughts, for he has too much exalted a con- 
ception of what a Prince owes to his country to be willing to 
yield to, another, duties given him to perform. 

Archduke Charles Louis is not a handsome man, but he has 
the upright bearing and soldierly carriage that distinguished his 

(559) 



560 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



race. Owing to the expression of intense sadness which rare- 
ly leaveshis face, he looks much older than his years. His 
manners are singularly attractive ; they seem to combine in 
some subtle fashion the stately courtesy of a grand-seigneur 

with the s i m p le 
kindliness of a 
friend. His life has 
not been happy, as 
his face shows clear- 
ly enough ; men 
with whom all 
things have gone 
well have not such 
eyes as his. He 
was only fifteen at 
the revolution of 
'48, when his elder 
brother, the pre- 
sent Emperor, was 
called to the throne. 
Somewhat narrow- 
minded and abso- 
lutely antagonistic 
to any idea of pro- 
gress, he was and 
still is the absolute 



AKCHDUKE CHAKLES LOUIS. 



antithesis of his 
brother, the Emperor, excepting as far as kindness and ex- 
quisite courtesy are concerned. He manages always to keep 
his personal opinions and views entirely to himself and is so 
uncommunitative that he might pass for sullen were it not for 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. ^g 

the mobile and constantly changing expression of his face 
which in itself is a study. 

In 1883 the Archduke was appointed Governor of Galicia, 
and two years later, he was promoted to the more important 
office of Viceroy of Tyrol. The Tyrolese soon became en- 
thusiastically devoted to their handsome young ruler, who 
treated them with such punctilious courtesy ; and when he 
brought among them his bride, a Saxon Princess, the whole 
population united in giving her a welcome such as no Sover- 
eign had received there for centuries. Within a year, however, 
the young Archduchess — she was only seventeen — died with 
terrible suddenness. One morning she was seemingly in perfect 
health, and before nightfall she was dead. Charles Louis was 
passionately attached to his wife, and when she died, his grief 
was so intense that his friends feared lest it should affect his rea- 
son. It was not until the outbreak of the war of 1859 that 
he made any effort to shake off the depression that seemed to 
paralyze him mentally as well as physically. When once he 
realized, however, that his country was in danger, he put aside 
entirely his private grief, and took an active part in the 
Italian campaign. But all his efforts failed to avert defeat. 
He was in favor of continuing the war at any cost, and took no 
pains to conceal his disapproval when the Emperor yielding 
to the advice of his Ministers, signed the peace of Villa- 
franca. As soon as this was done, the Archduke insisted 
upon resigning all his offices and retiring to private life at Gratz. 

Very fond of art he devoted much time and pains as well 
as money during this period of his life to collecting pictures, 
statues, enamels and potteries of great value. 

In 1862, at the urgent entreaty of the Emperor, Charles 

Louis married for the second time. His bride was the Prin- 

36 



562 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



cess Annunciata, of Naples, who died in 187 1, after bearing 
him two sons and a daughter. 

The murder of his brother Maximilian, Emperor of Mex- 
ico, was a terrible blow to the Archduke, and served still 
further to embitter him against Radicals and Radical ways. The 
two brothers, who had been brought up together, had always 
been warm friends and allies. Then came the disastrous w^ar of 
1866, which seemed to put the last touch to the Archduke's 
profound discouragement. He is the one member of his 
family who has always stoutly refused the friendship of the 
Hohenzollern conqueror. For some years Charles Louis re- 
fused to live in Vienna, so strongly did he disapprove of the 
levelling tendencies indulged in by the authorities there. As 
time passed, however, he began to realize that the work he 
had to do in the world could be better organized in the capi- 
tal than elsewhere. He had inherited a fortune of some mil- 
lions from his father — the compensation for the loss of the 
Italian provinces — and, being exceedingly generous and char- 
itable, he wished to discover how he could spend it so as most 
effectually to alleviate the sufferings of the poor. He there- 
fore established himself in Vienna, where he soon came to be 
regarded as a general benefactor, for he at once took the lead 
in every movement for improving the condition of the work- 
ing classes. He established technical schools and hospitals, 
and contributed largely to all existing charities. Like all 
ultra-aristocrats, he is exceedingly good to, nay, almost familiar 
with those belonging to the lower classes, peasants, working 
people, etc., arrogant to his equals, and he absolutely ab- 
hors the bourgeoisie, or middle classes. Nothing is prettier 
than to witness the manner in which he treats the tenants on 
his estates. Many a time have I seen him enter a farm- 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. c^^ 

laborer's tiny cottage, shake hands with the father and mother, 
lift the brown-cheeked babies on to his knee and discourse in the 
simplest and most hearty fashion about the state of the crops, 
or the orchards or any other such trivial subject, as were he 
an old farmer himself Let, however, a financier approach 
him and he will suddenly become as cold, haughty and dis- 
agreeable as it is possible for any man to be. 

Although firm in his resolution to have nothing to do with 
public affairs, in 1873, he was persuaded to become President 
of the International Exhibition held in Vienna that year, a 
work for which he proved himself admirably fitted. All who 
visited the Austrian capital at that time must remember the 
unfailing effort of the Archduke to make things go well. 
During this year he married the Princess Maria Theresa, the 
sister of Dom Miguel, who claims the Crown of Portugal. 
His marriage this time was certainly of inclination, for he is 
devoted to his brilliant young wife. Since his marriage the 
Archduke has taken a more prominent positio.i in Vienna 
society, and has gathered around him the leading scientific, 
literary and artistic men of the day, to whom he is a warm 
friend as well as a generous patron. As a man, Charles 
Louis is undoubtedly popular in Austria to-day; and if it were 
not for the fear that under his rule the Jesuits might regain 
their old disastrous influence in the State he would be warmly 
welcomed as a Sovereign in spite of his being known to be 
completely out of sympathy with this nineteenth century of 
ours, the popular movement of which is entirely against every 
one of his convictions. He has, of course, inherited these 
traits of character from his father, who waived his claim to 
the throne because he did not care to become an Emperor 
who would have to be at the beck and call of a Parliamentary 



5^4 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



majority ; he also professed an almost adoring veneration for 
all that has been, and a sneering and scornful mistrust of what 
exists. 

Be all this as it may, the Archduke has in his nature much 
religious enthusiasm, passionate loyalty, intense patriotism and 
a winning manner when he chooses to display it, which never 
fails to win the hearts of his interlocutor. He is enormously 
wealthy and spends his money as freely and as generously as 
his uncle, the venerable and philanthropical Archduke Albrecht. 

Archduchess Maria Theresa, the third wife of Archduke 
Charles Louis, and the future Empress of Austria, should her 
husband survive to Francis Joseph, is an exquisitely beautiful 
woman, brilliantly clever and who has a fancy for ruling. She 
is very popular amongst the Viennese, who seem to think 
that, if there must be a power behind the throne, it is better 
it should be a beautiful woman than a Jesuit. Maria Theresa 
was not eighteen at the time of the marriage, and seemed 
more like her husband's grand-child than his wife. Still the 
marriage has proved a very happy one ; and the Archduchess 
has had a decidedly humanizing effect on her husband. If 
any one could have reconciled him to living in the nineteenth 
century rather than the fifteenth, it would have been she. In 
this she has failed ; but still her influence over him is very 
great. A superb rider, she is to be seen almost every day in 
the Prater galloping towards the Frendenau where she takes a 
particular delight in exercising and breaking in her hunters 
herself 

The last time I had the pleasure of seeing her it was at a 
fancy ball given by Archduke Rainer. She was dressed to 
represent the North Pole, in a long fourreau of pearl-hued 
jsatin over which were gathered transparent folds of soft vsilky 




The Empress of Austria. 



^^S6 WITHIN ROYAI, PALACES. 

gauze ; diamonds and rock crystals covered almost every part 
of the skirt and corsage which were edged with swandsdown, 
powdered with diamond dust. A long square court mantle of 
cloth of silver hung from her left shoulder where it was 
fastened by a dazzling diamond Polar star. Scattered all over 
this mantle were snowballs made of swansdown, icicles of rock 
crystal and a film of hoarfrost composed of brilliants of the 
purest water. The Archduchess's magnificent hair was pow- 
dered and a scarf of thinnest silver gauze fastened above the 
forehead by a huge crescent of diamonds and sapphires, 
drooped around the white neck and lost itself under a long 
chaplet of icicles which fell from the slender waist to the sil- 
ver-shod feet of the fair wearer. I purposely describe at length 
this original and gorgeous costume because it is typical of the 
taste displayed by Maria Theresa in every detail of her life 
and which is apparent in all her surroundings from the carpet 
of her bedroom to the bouquets fastened at her horse's ears. 
Nothing, however, can give ever so vague an idea of how entran- 
cing she looked that night. Her radiant lovliness which 
seemed the incarnation of purity, dwarfed into nothingness all 
the many other beautiful women present. No one thought then 
that this peerless Queen of the winter stood a chance of be- 
coming Empress of Austro-Hungary. The Crown Prince was 
alive, strong and healthy, full of spirits and joyful plans for the 
future, while Archduke Carl-Ludwig, who wore on that occa- 
sion the sombre, if rich costume of a Doge of Venice, gave 
one the impression as he leaned wearily and gloomily against 
a marble column in the ball room watching the gay pageant 
before him, of having almost reached the end of his earthly 
pilgrimage. And yet to-day the gay young Prince is sleeping 
his eternal sleep and his place is occupied by the uncle whom 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. c^y 

in the ordinary course of things he ought to have survived for 
many and many a year. 

Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, Carl Ludwig's eldest son, and 
heir, is a very bright and intelligent young man. He pub- 
lished a short time ago a very remarkable monograph on the 
famous Field- Marshal Radetsky. He is also the author of a 




KECEPTION ROOM OF THE IMPEKIAL PALACE. 

collection of Upper-Austrian and Styrian poems and ballads 
which have attracted much notice in literary circles. 

Of the Imperial Palaces in Austria, I will say but little, as 
any ordinary book of history gives descriptions thereof. 

The Hofburg at Vienna is a rather jumbled and confused 
mass of buildings, very old and dark-looking but, of course, 
very magnificently decorated and furnished. Excepting the 



568 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



ball room, which is pure white from floor to ceiling, all the 
apartments are sombre and gorgeous ; old tapestries, old oak, 
old silver and old ivories forming the principal ornaments 
therein contained. The entire Burg " is like some black letter'' 
record of old German history written in granite, carved 
wainscoting and wrought iron. Though light is not spared at 
night in the immense halls and rooms, yet it is only such light 
as oil and wax candles can give. For the Empress, refined 
and delicate in all her tastes, abhors the glare of gas light, and 
in deference to her wishes the Emperor has never permitted 
these modes of illumination to be introduced in the Palace, 
This only adds to the poetical effect produced, and no one 
who visits this' superb place can regret the vague perfume of 
the Middle Ages so inherent to it. 

The Empress's private apartments are the most perfect in 
the Palace and include an oak-paneled library or study, with an 
embossed and emblazoned ceiling from which depend silver 
lamps of old trasvorata work. This room contains manu- 
scripts and illumined missals of all dates which are absolutely 
priceless. There the sovereign, when at Vienna, loves to sit 
by the wide porphyry hearth wheris great logs of fragrant 
pine wood crackle merrily, reading or dreaming, with her 
favorite dogs lying at her feet. 

The Austrian Crown-jewels are more magnificent than any 
contained in the treasure chambers of any other Court. 
Among them is a swordhilt incrusted with gigantic sapphires 
unique in size and beauty which belonged to the first Emperor 
of Germany. The finest of Empress Elizabeth s jewels are 
also permanently on exhibition with the treasures of the 
Crown and are only removed on the occasions when she 
wishes to wear them. She possesses the most marvellous set 



THE IMPERIAL FAMILY OF AUSTRIA. 



5^9 



of emeralds in the world, one of them being a perfectly huge 
stone as large as a tangerine orange which is hollowed in the 




^1 






% 






lilBRAKY OF THE IMPEKTAL PAIiACE. 



shape of a bonbonniere. Her Majesty's partiality for 
emeralds is so well known that when the Shah of Persia 



570 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



visited Vienna a few years ago, he presented her with a 
watch made of a single dark emerald of perfect color and 
texture, depending from a chatelaine of brilliants and of other 
large emeralds of fabulous value. Her private toilet set com- 
prising basins, perfume bottles, pitchers, trays, etc., are of rock 
crystal adorned with monogramme and crown of emeralds 
and diamonds while the hair brushes and combs are of yellow 
tortoise shell bearing the same monograms. The "Shatz- 
kammer" or treasure chamber contains also the regalia of 
Charlemagne taken from his grave at Aix-la-Chapelle, and 
which was used for many centuries at the coronation of all 
German Emperors, and a diamond which belonged to 
Charles the Bold which weighs something over 135 carats I 
must not forget an uncut emerald which is considered to be the 
laro-est in the world and weighs 2981 carats. 



THE REIGNING FAMILY 

OF 

BULGARIA. 

T TNEASY lies the head that wears a crown," and poor 

\^ Prince Ferdinand has long- since found out that the Bul- 
garian Crown is by no means the easy head-gear that he fondly 
imagined. Unfortunately for himselfhe will not do as the German 
Emperor suggests, and as his devoted mother, Princess Clem- 
entine entreats, viz. : leave Sofia quietly. How much Princess 
Clementime has spent on the Bulgarians it is impossible to say, 
but the sum is enormous, and her fortune of $600,000 a year 
has been heavily mortgaged to keep her son's supporters in 
good humor. In the first place, his election to the throne 
was a costly affair. Pots-de-vin were freely distributed, two 
Ministers getting 40,000 florins each, and others from 30,000 
florins to 15,000 florins. 

Then the " little bill " of the agent who went to St. Peters- 
burg to endeavor to secure the Czar's approval of the elec- 
tion came to 60,000 florins ; the Press Bureau at Sofia cost 
40,000 florins ; furniture, carriages and horses cost 400,000 
florins ($200,000) ; the purchase money of the estate at Tirnova 
was 75,000 florins ; while among minor items are 300 chargers 
purchased for the Bulgarian cavalry, 35,000 florins. Then it 
must be remembered, that although the Prince had a civil list 
of $120,000, he never touched a penny of it, simply because 
the Finance Minister has been unable to pay it. 

Prince Ferdinand combines in his character a rare modesty 
of demeanor, with unwavering self-confidence in action. 
Quietly, unostentatiously, with a firmness and tact that proves 

(571) 



572 WlTlilN ROYAL tALACES. 

him to be a statesman of no mean order, he has steered the 
State through a whirlpool of intrigue and conspiracy, leaving 
to others the credit of all his successes, and contenting him- 
self with a sense of good work done, and a confidence in its 
eventual reward. His life at Sofia is of funereal tranquility ; 
its liveliest dissipation the entertainment of ill-mannered Bul- 
gar officials, or ill-tempered foreign diplomats who grumble 
at their exile from civilization, and consider Sofia a merely 
distateful stepping-stone to higher posts. His sole distraction 
is the pursuit of his hobby for natural history, whether shoot- 
ing bearded vultures on the Macedonian frontier, or laying 
out exqusite gardens at Sandrovo. But what consolation are 
these to one whose heart throbs for the Boulevards, and whose 
every instinct is continually outraged by the semi-barbarians 
who are almost his only associates? 

The most pretentious personage in Bulgaria is Prime Min- 
ister Stambuloff, who is admitted by every one who knows 
nothing about the country to be its creator and saviour. Ori- 
ginally a cobbler's apprentice and then a barkeeper in Tir- 
novo. It appears that he was extremely lazy, careless and 
mischievous, and was, therefore, the recipient of numerous 
"strappings" from his master. Finally, the latter in disgust 
kicked him out of his shop, declining to have anything further 
to do with him, and consigning him to the very hottest re- 
gions mentioned in the Scripture. Young Stambuloff in 
the course of time turned his attention to politics, which have 
brought him to his present high office and dignity. 

Some time ago the Prime Minister happened to come across 
his old master and reminded him of the numerous castigations 
and kicks which he had inflicted upon him during the days of 
his apprenticeship. The cobbler's heart jumped almost into 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BULGARIA. 



57?> 



his mouth, and he expected nothing else than to be thrown 
into jail, for revenge is a prominent feature in everybody's 
character in the east of Europe. To his astonishment, how- 
ever, he received, a few days later, the appointment of deputy 
chief of the police of the capital, the Prime Minister informing 
him that he made the nomination in consequence of his being 
personally acquainted with the severity, the strictness and the 
disposition to swift justice of his old employer. 

The appointment proved an excellent one, and the old cob- 
bler has now been promoted to the post of chief and prefect 
of the Metropolitan Police, one of his principal duties being 
to preserve his former apprentice from the numerous attempts 
which are constantly being made upon his life. 

Mr. Stambuloff contrived to persuade Russia that he could 
be useful in conspiring against Turkey; and then Austria that 
he could be useful in conspiring against Russia. By craft and 
subtlety of an artistic kind, he then succeeded in establishing a 
pinchbeck Dictatorship at his own account, and now he has 
really almost persuaded Europe that he and Bulgaria are synony- 
mous, and that her destinies are linked with his. The real 
facts are, that he was originally placed and kept in power by 
his brother-in-law, a colonel who possessed paramount influence 
in the army, but that since the colonel's death, a year or two 
ago, the army has been entirely devoted to the Prince. The 
Prince is therefore now master of the situation, and can dis- 
miss Monsieur Stambuloff almost at easily as he might his 
valet. Such dismissal may come sooner than anyone antici- 
pates. Stambuloff has gradually become more and more in- 
tolerable by his arrogance and domineering mcmners, displayed 
even to the Prince himself. 



CJA WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Ferdinand of Bulgaria has the manners of the old school — 
great affability and great dignity. Indeed, though he is the 
ruler of a modern State, he belongs entirely to the ancient 
regime. " I was really born about the year 1730," he says, 
smiling, " and my sympathies are all with the good old times," 
His memory is prodigious, and his knowledge of detail unex- 
ampled. Talk with him on historical subjects, and there is not 
a fact, not a date, not a genealogy about which he hesitates 
for the fraction of an instant. You mention to him the exist- 
ence of a Jacobite remant in England, and he is able to say 
straight off exactly how the Stuart heiress traces her descent 
from Charles I., a feat which few would care to undertake. 

In dealing with current events, the Prince shows that he has 
imbibed a good deal of the Bulgarian partiality for reticence 
and mystery, though by nature he is frank and communicative 
as possible. His way of parrying an indiscreet question is 
perfectly captivating, he screws up his nose, lays his forefinger 
against it, and breaks into a ripple of merry laughter which is 
quite infectious. 

The constant plots against his life are, he admits, uncon- 
cernedly, very annoying. He has a great respect and regard 
for the Bulgarian people, and it used to be one of his chief 
pleasures to go about among them and watch their surprising 
development. The endless precautions, the troops of guards, 
imposed upon him for the slighest ride or drive, are utterly re- 
pugnant to his careless, confidant nature, and as It is, he is con- 
stantly alarming his friends by his rashness in exposing him- 
self to danger, without thought of the multitude of assassins 
who are employed against him. 

He makes no secret of his conviction that he is destined 
one day to fall a victim to the knife of the assassin, and the 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BULGARIA. 



575 



quiet unconcern which he constantly shows on the subject, 
without the least approach to parade or bravado, is assuredly 
a proof the noblest form of courage. 

The most providential of the many narrow escapes of Prince 
Ferdinand and of M. Stambuloff occurred about two years 
ago. On the night in question a grand ball was to take place 
at the Palace, to which all the principal officers of the garrison 
had been invited. Earlier in the evening the Prince enter- 
tained a small party at dinner, including his mother. Princess 
Clementine of Saxe-Coburg, her lady in waiting, Countess 
Anna Grenaud ; the Chamberlain, M. de Bourboulon the 
private secretary M. Starenoff, the Baron and Baroness Doeb- 
ner, and the three aides-de-camp in waiting. One of the lat- 
ter, Major Marinoff, after taking his seat at the table, asked 
M. de Bourboulon, who was sitting beside him, why Captain 
Markoff was not present. The Chamberlain promptly replied 
that the captain had not been invited, and that he had not set 
his foot inside the Palace for over three months. 

" You astonish me ! " exclaimed the Major, in tones which 
attracted the attention of Prince Ferdinand ; "' For I would 
swear a solemn oath to the effect that I saw him five minutes 
ago coming out of the private apartments and passing through 
the ante-chamber." 

"That is impossible;" interrupted his Highness, and per- 
ceiving that he had failed to carry conviction to the officer's 
mind, he gave orders that the four Macedonian body guards 
who were on duty at the two entrances of the private apart- 
ments should be relieved and report to him at once in the 
dining-room. As soon as they had entered, he inquired if they 
had seen any one within the last two hours except the persons 
seated at the table. The janissaries having carefully examined 



ry^ WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

the faces of those present, replied in the negative, and were 
commanded to return to their post. During the remainder of 
the dinner Major Marinoff was the object of much chaff and 
banter on the part of every one there, and was even taxed 
with Spirituahsm. 

The ladies had retired with Princess Clementine after rising 
from the table, and the gentlemen were in the smoking room 
with the Prince, when suddenly the curtains were pushed aside 
and the commander of the Palace Guards entered and whis- 
pered something into the ear of Major Marinoff, who immedi- 
ately left the room with him. A few minutes later he returned 
looking exceedingly disturbed and announced that there was 
in the orderly room down stairs an officer who demanded to 
see the Prince on a matter of life and death. His Highness 
immediately gave orders for the man to be brought into his 
presence, whereupon all the gentlemen with the exception of 
Baron Doebner withdrew into the adjoining apartments. 

A minute later the young officer appeared accompanied by 
Major Marinoff and Colonel Petroff, the commander of the 
Palace Guard, He was as pale as death, and his uniform, 
which was that of a Lieutenant of the Ferdinand Regiment 
stationed at Philippopolis, was much disordered. In reply to 
the questions addressed to him by the Prince, he related that 
he had come to Sofia that afternoon for the purpose of draw- 
ing some money, and that, after having been to the bank, he 
had gone to the cavalry barracks to see a brother officer 
before returning to Philippopolis. 

His friend happened to be absent, so he established himself 
in his room to wait for his arrival. While there he happened 
to fall asleep, but was awakened shortly after darkness had set 
in by the sound of voices in the adjoining room. Hearing the 



IHE ROYAL FAMILY OF BULGARIA. r-ij 

words, *• Austrian " and " Coburger," repeatedly used he 
became interested, put his ear to the keyhole of the locked 
door which separated the two rooms, and was rewarded for 
his trouble by learning that sharp at midnight, at the same 
time when the Prince's ball was in full swing, two battallions 
of infantry and two squadrons of cavalry were to surround the 
Palace, while the third battery of the First Regiment of Artil- 
lery was to dispose its six guns in such a way as to command 
the square in front of the Prince's residence. The troops in 
question were to be under the command of subalterns, since 
all the field officers had received commands to attend the ball. 
The young lieutenant added that the hoofs of the cavalry and 
artillery horses and the wheels of the cannon were to be 
wrapped with cloth in order to avoid all unnecessary 
noise. 

Up to this point the Prince and the gentlemen had listened 
with a considerable amount of skepticism to the lieutenant, 
and an incredulous smile lurked in the corners of His High- 
ness's mouth. There were grounds for believing that the 
young subaltern was either the victim of some delusion or 
under the influence of drink. When he had finished his story 
the Prince inquired, half indulgently, and apparently with the 
intention of humoring him, whether he had heard anything 
else. The lieutenant paused to think for a moment, and then 
replied : 

"Yes, Monseigneur, I heard the following remark made by 
one of the conspirators present : 

" Oh, Markoff is as well known at the Palace as a yellow 
dog. He is familiar with all the corners and back stairs, and 
he has given his solemn word of honor t}iat he will cut all the 
wires without any one becoming aware of the fact. The 

37 



C^jS WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Palace will be cut off from all communication with the outside 
world, and none of the occupants will be able to summon 
assistance from the city." 

At the mention of the name of Markoff the smile vanished 
from every face and a deep earnestness took its place. Major 
Marinoff, who had been chaffed at dinner for claiming to have 
seen Captain Markoff coming out of the private apartments 
of the Palace just before 7 o'clock, hurriedly left the room. 
Three minutes afterward he returned with branched cheeks, 
and in tones of tremulous excitement exclaimed : 

' So I was right, after all, sir, when I observed that I had 
seen the sneaking scoundrel Markoff before dinner. Go, gen- 
tlemen," he continued, turning to the others, and convince 
yourselves. The electric wires have been cut in His High- 
ness's room, just beneath the bed, and every wire has likewise 
been severed in the aide-de-camp's room." 

Messengers were at once despatched summoning Premier 
Stambuloff and Minister of War Mutkuroff to the Palace, and 
on their arrival measures were at once concerted for averting 
the danger. Half an hour later. Captain Markoff was quietly 
arrested at his lodgings without any of his confederates becom- 
ing aware of the fact. Among his papers were found numer- 
ous letters and documents of an exceedingly incrimination 
nature. While the officers entrusted with his capture were 
examining his effects, a soldier arrived bearing a sum of 7,6oof 
and a letter from Major Panitza referring to the attack on the 
Palace, and written in a strain that left no doubt as to the fact 
that Panitza was in chief command of the enterprise. At 1 1 
o'clock, at a moment when many of the conspirators had 
already arrived at the Palace, to attend the ball, steps were 
taken by the Minister of War to prevent any of the troops 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BULGARIA. ryg 

leaving the barracks, and some thirty subaltern officers whose 
names had been found among Markoff's papers were placed 
under lock and key. Panitza, the Prefect of Police, and four 
other officers of high rank were arrested at the Palace as the 
clock struck 12, the hour at which the princely residence was 
to have been surrounded. 

Throughout the evening the Prince maintained his com- 
posure. He chatted with his usual affability with all the gen- 
tlemen present and paid his court to the ladies without betray- 
ing by a look or a word the imminent danger from which he 
had so narrowly escaped. His mother, the Princess Clemen- 
tine, was kept in ignorance thereof until the following day. 

Poor Prince Ferdinand ! his joys are few and far between 
and his anxieties great, it is therefore only natural that he 
should consider his castle of Sandrovo as one of his only 
glimpses of earthly paradise. It is situated on the shore of the 
Black Sea, some six miles north of Varna, and is a singularly 
picturesque and interesting spot. 

It was at Varna that Prince Alexander, in all the hope and 
promise of youth, first set foot upon Bulgarian soil, uncon- 
scious of the difficulties and dangers already gathering around 
him, encouraged by the acclamations of his new subjects, and 
forgetful, perhaps, for the moment of Prince Bismarck's cynical 
prediction that after a few years he would look back upon 
his stay in Bulgaria as no pleasant reminiscence. The Prince, 
who was much struck by the beauty of the coast-line north of 
Verna, and who retained pleasant recollections of the town, 
became shortly after his accession the possessor of the undu- 
lating vine-clad slopes surrounding the site of the present 
chateau of Sandrovo, and took up his residence during the 
autumn months of successive years In the litde monastery ot 



rgo WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

St. Dlmitrl, which hes perched like an eagle's nest on the sum- 
mit of the cliffs, looking out over a vast expanse of sea. 

The building of the chateau, a large structure in the French 
Renaissance style, was taken in hand during the latter years 
of Prince Alexander's reign, and the edifice was already fin- 
ished, though not yet habitable, when the sad events of the 
2 1st of August, 1886, all but plunged Bulgaria in anarchy and 
deprived Prince Alexander of his throne. For a long time 
the lofty building conspicuous for many miles over land and 
sea, stood empty and forlorn, a monument to the evanescence 
of human hopes and the instability of human greatness. 

The estate was purchased from Prince Alexander by the 
Bulgarian Government, but in the unsettled condition of the 
country it was not thought advisable to spend large sums on 
the completion of the Palace, and Prince Ferdinand, who like 
his predecessor comes here every year, at first restricted him- 
self to the improvement of the grounds, which are laid out in 
the French style, and bid fair in a few years to rival the most 
beautiful gardens of Cannes of Mentone. In the present 
year, however, the restoration and completion of the chateau 
— which may be regarded among the minor signs of increased 
stability and confidence in Bulgaria — has been actively taken 
in hand, the internal decorations are all but finished, the fur- 
niture was manufactured by London and Paris firms, and last 
spring Prince Ferdinand took up his residence in the long- 
deserted structure. 

Sandrovo, the Osborne, or rather, perhaps, the Miramar of-*' 
Bulgaria, forms an almost Ideal seaside abode. The high hills 
and table lands which ward off the northerly blasts are, in 
fact, the southern boundary of the vast dreary steppe which 
extends through the Dobrusha to the Danube ; but on their 



tHE ROYAL FAMILY OF BULGAklA. rgj 

southern declivity the character of the climate, as well as the 
aspect of the country undergoes a complete transformation, 
and the wooded valleys and vine-clad slopes descending to the 
sparkling waters of the sea recall the most charming features 
of Corfu or the Riviera. The grapes of the district are 
famous, even in this land of vineyards ; the vines grow with 
amazing luxuriance, and form a kind of underwood to a per- 
fect forest of apple, pear, peach, quince and walnut trees, 
extending from the sea almost to the summits of the shelter- 
ing hills. Picturesque little country houses, with brightly 
painted verandahs and red-tiled roofs, nestle here and there 
amid the foliage, and offer an abode during the summer 
months to many visitors from Varna, Rustchuk, Shumla, and 
Rasgrad, who are often fain to linger in this modern Eden 
till far into the autumn, when the time for the gathering ot 
the grapes arrives. The vintage season Is one of general 
mirth and festivity; hundreds of peasants flock to the vine- 
yards from the neighboring villages, and live for the time in 
rustic sheds constructed on the Robinson Crusoe model, while 
many of them pass the night beneath the fruit trees. 

On the shaded roads and lands the rudely made country 
carts, drawn by a pair of white oxen, and adorned with vine- 
tendrils and branches of trees, go creaking along bearing enor- 
mous vats — some of them six or eight feet in height — laden 
with green and yellow and purple clusters, not unworthy of 
the renown of ancient Canaan. In the evening the youths 
and maidens join in the "horo" or national dance beneath 
the harvest moon, and the plaintive notes of the " juzla " and 
the "gaida" may be heard among the sylvan arcades. 

At night, when the weather Is calm, the sea Is often thickly 
studded with fishing boats, and the Prince sometimes goes out 



rg2 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

in his steam-launch for an excursion in the moonlight. But 
though placid seas and starry skies are the rule during autumn 
months, the ill-famed Pontus Euxinus occasionally does some- 
thing to prove its claim to an evil reputation. Squalls and 
tempests are wont to arise with little or no warning, and 
scores of fishing-boats are wrecked every year on the treach- 
erous coast. In stormy weather even the castle becomes an 
undesirable place of abode, yet it is never without regret that 
Prince Ferdinand prepares to abandon this picturesque habita- 
tion for the winter months. 

The chateau of Sandrovo received its final decoration under 
the direction of M. Pietrowski, a well-known artist, who has also 
painted a superb full-length portrait of the Prince. Its most 
imposing feature in the distance is the lofty tower, which com- 
mands a magnificient view of the surrounding scenery. A 
more peculiar characteristic, however, is the trellis-work canopy 
for vines and other creeping plants which covers part of the 
roof of the building, and which forms a leafy arbour with a 
delightful prospect to the south and west. 

From the Prince's apartments a private staircase communi- 
cates with a charming suite of rooms on the first floor, on the 
opposite side are the Princess Clementine's apartments ; here, 
too, is an atelier supplied with furniture from England, and 
decorated in the English style. It is interesting, on this 
remote and unfrequented coast, to find one-self surrounded 
with the choicest products of western taste and refinement 
Numerous staircases ascend to the roof of the tower, from 
which a marvelous view of the whole coast line of Bulgaria 
can be enjoyed, ranging from the white chalk cliffs of Kaliakra 
on the north to the distant Turkish mountains beyond Bourgas 
on the south, while the eye can follow the long, undulating line 



II 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BULGARIA. 583 

of the Balkans as it descends to Cape Emine, and the vine- 
clad hills and valleys around us seem spread out beneath our 
feet. Close below are the red-tiled roofs and shaded gardens 
of the little monastery, which in successive years has furnished 
a home to two 
B ulgarian 
Princes. This 
ancient and 
venerable 
building has 
been carefully 
preserved, 
and still con- 
tinues to be 
occupied by 
members of 
the Prince's 
suite. At San- 
drovo, and 
among the 
magfnificent 
solitudes 
which sur- 
round the 
monastery of 
Rilo, Prince 
Ferdinand 

who is a keen lover of nature, finds temporary rest and recrea- 
tion amid the many cares which beset a position of exceptional 
difficulty and danger. Indeed, amid the storms of Oriental 
politics crowned heads enjoy but little respite from anxiety, 
and least of all the Sovereign of Bulgaria. 




PBINCE FEKDINAND. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

BELGIUM. 

KING Leopold of Belgium, is a much less attractive per- 
son than his cousin at Marlborough House. He pos- 
esses none of that generosity of character that forms so dis- 
tinguishing a trait of the Prince of Wales, and gives one 
thoroughly the impression of a cynical, cool-blooded man of 
the "world, who is endowed with more brain than heart, and in 
whose smile there always lurks a suspicion of a sneer. Not- 
withstanding his lofty stature — he stands six foot three — his 
well-proportioned and elegant figure, his finely chiseled fea- 
tures and long gray beard, he Is dignifed rather than majestic, 
and does not strike one as being a particularly Grand Seig- 
neur. There is too manifest an anxiety for the main chance, 
and he has always given me the idea that there must be some- 
how or other a Hebraic strain in his ancestry. No monarch 
in the present century has dabbled more openly in stock ex- 
change speculations, and if ever the record of the Panama 
Canal Company is laid bare in a court of law — an eventuality 
that has recently come within the bounds of possibility — it will 
be found that the King of the Belgians has followed the ex- 
ample of M. de Lesseps in selling to unsuspecting purchasers 
his 4,000,000 francs worth of founder's shares in the concern 
at a moment when he must have known that it was doomed to 
failure. His Majesty was among the earliest investors in the 
Panama enterprise. Indeed, atone time he had over $10,000,- 
000 invested in the company. It is lucky that he cleared out 
before the collapse, and in that particular case he proved more 

(5«5) 



cS6 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

fortunate than in connection with his Congo investments The 

latter have swallowed up not only the major part of his own 

vast fortune, but also that which he holds in trust for his 

sister, the ex-Empress Charlotte of Mexico. 
Indeed there are 

many who do not 

hesitate to declare 

that the unfortunate 

lady is no longer in 

any way demented, 

and that the only cause 

for which she is still 

kept under restraint 

and in such strict se- 
clusion is the king's 

dread of being call- 
ed to account for her 
fortune, which has 
been in his keeping 
ever since 1867. 

Strange it is, at any 
rate, that the Em- 
press Charlotte's aunt, 
Queen Victoria, has 
never been allowed 
to see or visit her, 
although she has re- 
peatedly sought to do 
so. Nor indeed, has 
any one else been permitted to see the ex-Empress excepting 
King Leopold and his wife, Queen Henrietta. 




THE KING OF THE BELGIANS, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BELGIUM. ^Sj 

Even the moments when he tries to be most agreeable, 
King Leopold gives one the impression of being insincere, 
and the conviction that he will regard you as a fool if you 
believe him. It is a great mistake to give credence to the 
popular belief that he is a spendthrift ; for almost all his dis- 
bursements are made in the hope of receiving large returns, 
and if the latter are not realized, it is merely that his specu- 
lation has been unfortunate. 

One little trifling incident may suffice to illustrate the mean 
side of his character. He was receivinor a gentleman who 
had rendered him several services of considerable official and 
personal importance. Leopold had decided to recognize 
these by the presentation of a handsome jewel-studded snuff- 
box. During the course of his conversation with the man I 
watched the King take the snuff-box from his pocket and hold 
it in his hand, preparatory to presenting it. The person for 
whom it was intended, however, seemed so delighted, so grati- 
fied and so overwhelmed by the gracious words of recognition 
and praise which fell from the thin lips of Leopold, that the 
latter apparently came to the conclusion that the gift of the 
diamond-studded snuffbox would be entirely superfluous. He 
accordingly did not present it, but actually retained it, inclosed 
in the third and fourth digits of his right hand, while he ex- 
tended the first and second of his fingers in farewell. I often 
wonder to myself if the gentleman in question ever discovered 
how much he had missed by being too profuse in his expres- 
sions of enthusiastic loyalty. 

Leopold II. is liked well enough as a King, but greatly dis- 
liked as a man. The last fact cannot really be wondered at, 
for a more cold and repellant manner than his it would be 
impossible to meet with. His face looks as if it were cut out 



egg WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

of wood while he talks to you, and then there is a low cunning 
expression always lurking in his eye which is in the highest 
degree offensive. His Majesty, is indeed, exactly what a man 
brought up by Leopold I. and that wily German Doctor, 
Stockmar, would be— cold, calculating, mean and obstinate. 
He is, however, far from being a fool, for he showed on 
several occasions the greatest astuteness in checkmating Napo- 
leon lll.'s covert attacks on Belgium. The death of his only 
son, the Duke of Brabant, has soured a nature that was at no 
time genial. 

It was in 1853, before his accession to the throne, that Leo- 
pold married the Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria- 
Hungary. They have had four children — one son (the 
lamented Duke of Brabant,) and three daughters, the eldest 
of whom married Prince Phillip of Coburg, the second, the 
late Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, and the third, Clemen- 
tine, is, they say, erelong to be affianced to the Prince of 
Naples. Nothing could be more simple than the way these 
girls were brought up. They went to school to the Sacre 
Coeur of Jetti, not far from Laeken, and joined in all the 
studies and pastimes of the other girls. 

The King's tastes, indeed, are very simple while in Belgium; 
though His Majesty sometimes knows how to make the money 
fiy, and not always in the most enviable way, when away from 
his own dominions. He is constantly to be met with striding 
about the streets of his capital (for he delights in long walks), 
tiring out his attendant gentleman and being particularly no- 
ticeable, owing to the fact of his never wearing gloves, while 
those in attendance on His Majesty invariably do. The King 
of the Belgians has, however, like all the members of the 
Orleans family, beautiful hands and likes to show them, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BELGIUM. ^89 

although some persons say that the absence of gloves is the 
result of economy. 

But while fond of walking, the Belgium Sovereign Is also 
very fond of riding, and it is rare, that a day passes, winter or 
summer, without his going out to the Bois de la Cambre on 
horseback, once and sometimes even twice in the course of 
twelve hours. 

To the pleasures of the table he is insensible. He eats but 
little, and prefers the most frugal fare to anything dainty, 
never touching wine (though not a teetotaler,) and drinking for 
the most part water. Leopold II. is greatly opposed to capi- 
tal punishment, and will not sign a death warrant. "Never," 
said he, "shall a drop of blood flow dur ng my reign." 

All amusements bore the Belgian King. He hates the 
theatre and dislikes the opera ; but he is very fond of reading, 
especially partial to gossiping and talking scandal. There 
lives no old woman in Belgium more fond of this pastime than 
Leopold, and His Majesty has more than once come near 
getting into serious trouble through thus poking his very elon- 
gated Royal nose into the private affairs of his subjects. The 
frequent visits he pays to London incognito are looked upon 
with the gravest displeasure by his subjects, who do not like 
to think that the face of their Leopold is so well known in the 
extremely disreputable district of St. John's Wood, and who 
bitterly resent the fact that the name of their King has on 
more than one occasion publicly figured in the Police Courts 
of the British metropolis in connection with some of the most 
shameful cases that have ever furnished themes for the author 
of the "Maiden Tribute" series. 

Marie Henriette, Queen of the Belgians, is not only one of 
the most famous whips in Europe, and a remarkably success- 



590 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



ful amateur photographer, but is moreover a wonderful con- 
juror. When in 1882, the great magician, Prof. Herrmann, 
who must not be confounded with his namesake here in New 
York, arrived at Brussels on his way to the sea baths at Os- 
tende, one of the Queen's chamberlains called at his bote) 
and asked him if he was r 
the same Prof Herrmann i 
who had performed 
sleight-of-hand perform- 
ances at the Palace of the • 
Queen's father, the Arch- ; 
duke Palatine of Austria. 
On ascertaining this to 
be the fact, he informed 
that Her Majesty would 
be glad to receive him in 
private audience the next 
day. The Queen re- 
ceived him most kindly, 
and after talking of 
old times, expressed a 
wish to learn sleight- 
of-hand. Professor Herr- 
mann gladly consent- 
ed to teach her his 
tricks, and during the '•'^^ qtteen of the Belgians. 

following four weeks he spent several hours daily in initiating 
her into the myteries of the black art. Of course, these 
lessons took place with locked doors, the professor having 
made a point of insisting that nobody should be present be- 
sides his Royal pupil and himself. The Queen displayed a 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF BELGIUM. tqi 

remarkable talent in acquiring the art, and many were the 
tricks which she subsequently practiced on her family and 
attendants. 

Professor Herrmann, who was very wealthy, absolutely re- 
fused to accept any remuneration for his services. The Queen, 
however, met the difficulty by sending a magnificent bracelet 
and a superb pair of diamond earrings to the professor's wife. 
On his seventieth birthday the Professor received an autograph 
letter from Her Majesty congratulating him in the kindest 
manner, and in which she wrote, "Do not be afraid, I have not 
divulged your secrets to any one." 

During the winter the Royal family reside at Laeken a beau- 
tiful place on the outskirts of Brussels, the Royal palace in 
the capital itself only being used for audiences and state func- 
tions. The summer is divided between the Royal Chalet at 
Ostende and the Chateau de Ciergnon which may be de- 
scribed as being the favorite residence of the Belgian King. 
He has been enlarging and improving the place for many 
years past, in pursuance of the strongly marked taste for 
buildinof which he shares with Louis Ouartorze and the late 
King of Bavaria. It is perched high upon a rock above the 
trees, and glistening in the bright autumn sunshine, fully de- 
serving its double designation of castle and palace. There is 
a boldness in its lofty corner towers which at once commands 
admiration. They seem to be quite close ; but half an hour's 
walk along a romantic winding road is necessary before one 
comes to a lodge which was completed from English designs. 

The principal entrance is a massive stone portico, with a pro- 
jecting canopy placed just midway between the square towers 
of the park front. The ponderous door is opened, and a 
dozen steps bring one into a spacious entrance-hall, with a 



592 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

deep conservatory on either side, in which when the King 
touches a knob, a globe of electric light appears at the root of 
every fern and plant. 

Ten whole years were devoted to making Ciergnon what It 
is to-day, and, during that time the designer would never 
allow anybody to have the smallest inkling of his plans or 
progress. When the work was completed the King quietly 
requested the Queen to drive over from Spa, and on on her 
arrival she was greeted with one of these Aladdin-like sur- 
prises which one often reads of but rarely experiences. 

The inner hall which belonged to the original structure is 
flanked on either side by stair-cases, and terminates in a cor- 
ridor adorned with large panel pictures by Madou and Lau- 
ters. A glass door at the end opens on a terrace from which 
one looks right down on the Lesse, rushing rapidly over its 
rocky bed, and a never-ending prospect of pine-clad hills, 
deep ravines and rich green meadows. It is a curious admix- 
ture of what one sees from Windsor. 

Ciergnon, as it is seen to-day, is probably one of the finest 
examples of what the art of the landscape gardener can ac- 
complish. The river Lesse runs some sixty yards below the 
foundations of the castle, and so near to the rock from which 
they spring that one is not aware of its presence till close 
upon It. From the principal entrance, the ground slopes 
gently downwards till It suddenly rises into a pine-clad pla- 
teau. Five years ago not a drop of water was obtainable In 
the park ; but, undaunted by the porous character of the 
stony soil, the King caused a reservoir some 120 yards square 
to be constructed on the summit, the water being supplied 
from the Lesse, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

GREECE. 

TZ"ING GEORGE'S position is not a particularly pleasant 
J- ) one, for there hardly exists a more jealous, suspicious 
and fiercely democratic race than the Greeks, who try by all 
means in their power to hinder the royal family from enjoying 
the common privileges of human friendship and social 
intercourse. As the selection of personal friends from 
among his subjects arouses the hatred and malice of those 
who are not chosen, the King, warned by the example of his 
predecessor. King Otho, whose overthrow was due mainly to 
the jealousy which his marked preferences for a chosen few 
of his subjects caused among the remainder, has wisely decided 
to stand aloof from ail. He neither visits nor invites any but 
distinguished foreigners, who invariably carry away the best 
impressions of the brilliant hospitality tendered to them. 

Years ago the Queen ventured to give a children's ball 
at the palace and at once a public discussion arose on the 
question of royal extravagance and the general impropriety 
of amusing in such a manner the unfortunate infant princes. 
Children's balls at the palace were discontinued in 
consequence. 

It must, however, be said of the Greeks that they are 
polite and courteous. A child might find its way through 
the densest crowd in Athens on festive occasions without 
being hurt or jostled intentionally, which fact is probably due 
to the deficiency of high animal spirits among the men as 
well as to their extreme sobriety. Yells, violent horseplay, 
38 (593) 



594 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



vulgar joking are unknown to them and they are incapable 
of finding pleasure in aimless personal cruelty. A Greek 
may take a person's life if the latter's existence is in 
his way, but he will never pinch or, kick or torture women 

and children simply 
for the love of so doing. 
King George has 
a civil list of ^200,000 
per annum, one-half of 
which is provided out 
of the national revenue 
of Greece, while the re- 
mainder is composed of 
annual sums of $20,000 
voted by each of the 
following five great 
powers: Great Britain, 
France, Germany, Aus- 
tria and Russia. 

Foreign Monarchs 
and members of Euro- 
pean reigning families 
delight in visiting the 
King and Queen of the 
Hellenes, and the Em- 
press of Austria spent 
"six consecutive seasons in one of the Royal residences, dis- 
tant some fifteen miles from Athens. The country affording 
beautiful scenery and being plentifully stocked with game, 
the Imperial lady could indulge her taste for riding and 
hunting to her heart's content. 




THE KING OP GREECE 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREECE. 



595 



Court life at Athens is very pleasant. During the winter 
from Christmas to Lent, there are a number of state balls and 
dinners at regular intervals. Any strangers of distinction 
temporarily residing in the capital are authorized to send in 
their names to the master of ceremonies or grand marshal of 
the court, and generally within forty-eight hours they receive 
a letter from him appointing an audience, shortly followed by 
an invitation to a ball or reception. 

The King and Queen are both exceedingly fond of skat- 
ing, but as snow and ice are unknown in Greece the King has 
caused a large gallery to be constructed in a wing of the pa'- 
ace and has had it fixed up as a skating rink. An excellent 
orchestra plays w^altzes and polkas while the Royal guests 
wheel round on their roller-skates, and twice a week during 
the winter invitations are sent out for regular "Fetes de Pat- 
inage," as if Athens were suddenly transferred to the shores 
of the Neva or of Lake Ladoga. 

The Greeks are generally enthusiastic about music and 
love dearly to go and listen to the excellent band of the First 
Regiment of the Guards, which morning and evening plays 
for two hours in front of the Royal Palace. Queen Olga often 
sits on the balcony during the performance and her presence 
is always saluted by the national hymn, "Ke apta Kokala 
vgalmeni ton Ellinon ta iexa," w^hich is the " God Save the 
Queen," "Marseillaise," or "Stars and Stripes," of the de- 
scendents of Themistocles ! 

King George is the ideal of a constitutional monarch, and 
ever since his advent to the throne in October, 1863, he has 
acted in all respects entirely in accordance with the decisions 
of the National Assemblies. 

He is a very hard worker, and throughout the winter he is 



rQ6 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

in his study as early as 7 a. m. reading documents, signing 
state papers and receiving the reports of his Ministers. In 
the afternoon, accompanied by his favorite aide-de-camp, 
Colonel Hadji-Petros, His Majesty visits schools, hospitals, 
barracks and prisons, and is alv^^ays eagerly desirous of im- 
proving the condition of his subjects, to whatever class they 
may belong. In Athens the King generally wears the uni- 
form of a general of infantry, but when he travels through his 
dominions he delights in donning the dress of an admiral, 
probably in memory of the days when in Denmark he won 
his steps in the navy. 

King George is tall and slight and very bald. His bright 
blue eyes have a searching, piercing look which reminds one 
of those of the Emperor of Austria. He is very active and 
energetic, and has the gift of drawing his interlocutors into 
easy conversation. He is never so pleased as when he can 
elicit candid and original opinions, and his great kindliness 
and natural affability endear him to all those who come in 
contact with him. He is far from rich, but notwithstanding 
his very limited income he holds his rank admirably, and his 
various estabHshments are conducted on a most liberal scale. 
He is passionately fond of sport, keeps a fine lot of hunters 
and spends his happiest hours in the saddle. 

Queen Olga is adored by her husband's subjects. She 
is a woman of remarkable intelligence and high-minded prin- 
ciples. She is tall and of commanding presence, with 
splendid hair and most winning smile. She is renowned 
throughout the kingdom for her unceasing and wide-reaching 
charity. Wherever there is a call for a good action, Queen 
Olga is ready to appear. She has founded a model hospital, 
the " Evangelizon" (Annunciation,) and goes personally twice 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREECE." 



59; 






>, 



a month to inspect the infirmaries so as to be certain that the 
sick are provided with every comfort. During the Russo- 
Turkish war she tended the wounded with her own hands, and 
her untiring care and touching abnegation won for her the grat- 
itude and affection of all sufferers. Besides all this she is a good 
mother and a devoted 
wife and she superin- 
tends the education of 
her children, who are 
passionately attached to 
her. If there were more 
Queens like her there 
certainly would be 
less revolutionary ten- 
dencies in all the mon- 
archies of Europe. " 

Hitherto much un- 
pleasantness has ex- 
isted at the Court of 
Athens, owing to the 
absence of all sympathy 
between the Queen and 
her daughter-in-law, the 
Crown Princess. The the queen of gkeece. 

latter is a sister of the Emperor of Germany, and Queen Olga, 
who is a Russian Grand Duchess by birth and who has re- 
tained all her Muscovite proclivities, strongly opposed the 
marriage of her son. She was consulted neither by the latter 
nor by her husband about the proposed alliance,and although 
the engagement lasted some eighteen months, during which 
time the Queen resided almost entirely in the north of Europe, 




59S WltHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

she never once visited Berlin for the purpose of making the 
acquaintance of her daughter-in-law that was to be. Indeed 
her neglect to make the slightest effort toward becoming 
personally acquainted with her son's future wife was of the 
most marked and pointed nature. 

From her youth up Queen Olga has always been taught 
to regard the Germans as the bitterest enemies of Russia and 
to look forward to a mortal and sanguinary conflict between 
the Slavonic and Teutonic races as inevitable. That her eldest 
son should have allied himself with those whom she regarded 
as enemies, and that he should have contributed to the trans- 
formation of Greece from a Russian into a German outpost 
was and still remains gall and wormwood to her, and conse- 
quently her attitude toward the Crown Princess has never 
been of a very cordial nature. 

As the Crown Princess is exceedingly clever and of a very 
willful and independent character, she was quick to resent her 
mother-in-law's conduct, and the Palace of the Heir Apparent 
at Athens became a rival Court to that of Queen Olga; German 
influences prevailing at the former and Russian influences at 
the latter. 

It appears, however, as if the sorrow which overtook the 
Royal Family at the sad death of Queen Olga's favorite 
daughter, the Grandduchess Paul, of Russia, is destined to go 
far to repair the breach, not only between the mother-in-law, 
but also to remove the coldness which for some time past has 
existed between the courts of Athens and St. Petersburg. 

There are many who are superstitious enough to believe 
that the Crown Princess will never become Queen of Greece. 
They base their opinion on the peculiar history of the State 
carriage in which she made her first entrance into Athens. 



1 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREECE. 599 

It was originally built for the late Comte de Chanibord, the 
French Legitimist pretender, and was intended by him to be 
used on the longed-for day of his triumphal entry into 
Paris. That day, however, never came. Marshal McMahon 
after the war declining to play the part of General Monk to 
the lame pretender, and the carriage remained in the 
warehouse of its builder, from whom the King of the Hellenes 
purchased it at a reduced price. Its use by the Crown 
Princess was regarded with forebodings of evil by the 
populace who well knew the history of the vehicle. 

A description of the Royal Greek wedding at Athens 
which took place on the 27th of October 1889 between the 
Crown Prince and Princess Sophie of Prussia may be of 
interest here as the ceremonies of the kind in Greece are 
very characteristic. The wedding was celebrated with much 
ecclesiastical pomp by the Archbishop Germanos, of Athens, 
assisted by seventeen bishops, wearing jeweled mitres or 
golden crowns and gorgeous robes of brocaded gold. The 
Archbishop received the wedding procession at the door of 
the Cathedral, and preceded the company to the Altar, which 
was placed on a raised podium for the occasion. The rite 
of changing the rings was performed by Queen Olga, who 
acted as "Paranymphios," and then the coronation ceremony 
commenced. The Archbishop joined the fingers of the 
bride and bridegroom to form a cross, and then took two 
crowns of hammered gold, touching three times the heads of 
the betrothed. The crowns — a gift of the Emperor of 
Russia — were then handed to the groomsmen, who had to 
hold them in turn over the bride and bridegroom during a 
great part of the service. This somewhat fatiguing duty 
fell, on behalf of the bride, to her brother. Prince Henry, and 



6oo WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

her two cousins, the Princes Albert Victor, and George of 
Wales, and, on behalf of the bridegroom, to the Czarowitz 
and his own two younger brothers, the Princes George and 
Nicolaus. After the gospel of the Marriage at Cana had 
been read by the Archbishop, the newly-married pair, with 
lighted tapers in their hands, marched thrice around the altar, 
tasted the sacramental wine, and kissed the Holy Book. 
Then the strains of the Te Deum announced that the service 
was over, and, after having received the congratulations of 
their relations, the Crown Prince and Princess left the 
Cathedral in the same order as they had arrived, and 
repaired to the chapel in the Palace, where the wedding 
according to the Protestant rite took place. 

Prince George, the second son of the King of Greece, 
may be described as the Anak of Royalty and achieved much 
celebrity about two years ago by felling to the ground and 
placing hors de combat a Japanese who attempted to 
assassinate his cousin, the Czarowitz, with whom he was 
visiting the far east. Like all big creatures, both human 
and animal, Prince George, who spent a couple of weeks in 
New York some time ago, is exceedingly cheerful, good- 
tempered and open-hearted. He is very popular in 
Greece. He has received his naval training in the Danish 
navy and is destined to become lord high admiral of 
the Greek navy, which consists of about a dozen ironclads 
and gunboats. 

The stick with which Prince George felled the assailant 
of the Czarowitz in Japan, is a familiar object to the mem- 
bers of the Grecian and Russian courts. It is of absolutely 
gigantic size and weight, was cut especially for the Prince in 
the woods around Poros, the naval arsenal of Greece, and re- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GREECE. 



60 1 



sembles those monstrous sticks, I would almost say clubs, 
which walkingstick and umbrella dealers display in front of 
their stores or in their windows for purposes of advertisement. 
This stick was the despair both of his family and attendants, 
who have repeatedly urged 
him to abandon it for a less 
conspicuous and Goliath-like 
cane. This the Prince refused 
to do, and even when in the 
act of bidding adieu to his 
father before his departure for 
the East with his cousin, the 
Czarowitz, he laughingly de- 
clined to leave it behind him, 
declaring that it was his mas- 
cot. It may be mentioned that 
this stick is to a certain extent 
in keeping with his enormous 
stature for he is six feet six in 
height and broad in proportion. 
Prince George recently 
placed another act of bravery to 
his credit. During a terrible 
hurricane which w^as raorinof in 
the Bay of Piraeus, the waves prince george. 

caused a boat to capsize in which one of the men-of-war 
sailors was attempting to reach his ship. The Crown Prince, 
who happened to be on board one of the vessels in port 
anchored in the immediate neighborhood, without a mo- 
ment's hesitation sprang into the angry sea and after battling 
with the waves for a considerable time at length succeeded 




5o2 WITHIN ROYAL fALACES. 

in bringing the sailor close to one of the ironclads where he 
was able to grasp hold of the ropes that were thrown to 
him and to fasten one of them around the body of the ex- 
hausted man. 

M. Tricoupis, the present Prime Minister, is one of the 
great personalities of Europe, for practically he is the ruler of 
Greece. He would have been a great man no matter where he 
had been born, but the circumstances and surroundings of his 
youth aided him in attaining his present position. He first 
saw light in Nauplla in 1832, and is therefore still a man in 
the very prime of life and strength. M. Tricoupis is a Greek 
to the backbone and can trace his pedigree far back through 
many centuries. No statesman has ever so entranced the 
people of the soil. Possessed of ample fortune, he is above 
the suspicion of corruption — a taint which is, alas ! too pre- 
valent in the Mediterranean zone. 

Since Tricoupis has been in power Greece has been pros- 
perous, peaceful and happy. He has poured oil on the 
troubled waters and has averted war and strife with praise- 
worthy diplomacy. 

Since the accession of M. Tricoupis to office in 1886, two 
great eve-its have taken place certainly unparalleled in the 
history of Greece. The revenue of the country has shown a 
surplus, and an honest Minister has made it his personal 
business to discover a private fraud on the exchequer, amount- 
ing to some 6,000,000 drachmas. 

To his energy is also due the canal now being rapidly cut 
through the Isthmus of Corinth, which will render the journey 
by water to Constantinople and the ports of the Black Sea 
some two-hundred miles nearer, to say nothing of the great 
decrease in the danger ot navigation. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

TURKEY. 

"XV 7"HILE the present Sultan of Turkey is portrayed by his 

'^'^ biographers as being a debauched and semi-civilized 
monarch, he is far from it. In the first place, he has always 
been passionately addicted to athletic sports, and he has at- 
tained a high standard of muscular development. Indeed, 
one of his favorite amusements is to pick up a heavy arm- 
chair by one leg and hold it out at arm's length for several 
minutes. 

Abdul Hamid was born on the 22nd of September, 1842, 
and is the second son and fourth child of Abdul Medjid 
Khalif His mother died while he was still a baby, and he 
was adopted by his father's second wife, a very wealthy 
woman, who, being childless, made him her heir. 

As long as Abdul Medjid Khalif lived, the existence of 
Hamid and his brother Murad, the ex-Sultan, who is now 
under restraint as a mad-man, was a happy and a merry one. 
Both boys were indulged to the utmost of all their fancies, 
and had every wish fulfilled nearly before they were ex- 
pressed. They had a whole retinue of small slaves of their 
own age, whose only task was to devise tricks and amuse- 
ments for their entertainment. 

When Hamid reached his fourteenth year his father and 
adopted mother presented him with a score of playmates of 
the other sex, and he was initiated at an unusually early age 
into all the depravities of harem life. However, his remark 
ably vigorous constitution withstood the effects and he was, 

(603) 



6o4 



WttHIN kOYAL PALACfig. 



when he married a strong, hardy lad, capable of enduring a 
great amount of physical fatigue and enjoying excellent 
health. His brother Murad presented a striking contrast to 
him, his whole system having been undermined and his con- 
stitution being utterly ruined. 

It is not generally known that the present Sultan visited 
London and Paris in 1867. He was immensely interested in 
everything he saw, in the French capital especially, where he 
picked up a few sentences in French, with which he has'ever 
since adorned his conversation. During his journey through 
Christendom he contracted a great fondness for everything 
European, which is clearly indicated by his habits and all the 
interior arrangements of his household. 

He orders all his clothes from Paris, and is never so well 
pleased as when the members of his immediate entourage 
assume, in their costum.es, manners or ways, any French 
customs. The only point in which he surrenders himself to 
Oriental fashions is in wearing a fez. He heartily dislikes 
doing so, but cannot avoid it for obvious reasons. 

Abdul Hamid is by no means an immoral man, and is 
phenomenally free from the vices to which Turkish Princes 
are almost always addicted. He does not drink, and if any- 
thing, is just a little "near," about money matters. He is 
married to one, single, legitimate wife, and lives a quiet, 
affectionate, peaceful life, with his Cadine. Of course he 
keeps a harem containing a good many female slaves or 
odalisques, but he does it more in compliance with the insti- 
tutions and religion of his country than from any personal 
taste of his own. 

He is extremely fond of animals, and has a quantity of tame 
birds, among which Is a very clever cockatoo, with which he 



I 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TURKEY. 



605 



amuses himself for hours together. Ten years ago he began 
to collect butterflies and beetles, and gives much of his time 
to this innocent recreation. 

He inherited from his father a lovely palace at Kiahat- 
Hane on the Sweet Waters, and there he lived in 1877 with 
his wife and two children, a boy and a girl of six and three 
years old, in a happy, contented way, completely " a la Fran- 
caise!' He even went so far as to eat with them at the same 
table, and played with his little ones like any model European 
paterfamilias. 

He is, however, an orthodox Turk, and a very severe op- 
ponent of the "Young Turkish," party. He practices his 
religion in a punctilious and ostentatious way, and when he 
happens to be out of doors at prayer-time he has a prayer-rug 
brought to him on the grass and goes through all the rites of 
his creed coram piLblico. 

It is, however, rumored at his Court that he is not quite so 
pious as he seems to appear. It has been noticed often when 
he is going through his lengthy religious performances that 
his eyes rove in various directions, and he even sometimes 
actually far enough forgets himself to give an order to some 
one or to speak to an attendant. This is the subject of much 
comment, for a true believer never allows anything whatever 
to interfere with, or take his attention from, his prayers when 
he is going through his ritual. 

Moreover there was a " Holy Man " at " Kiahat-Hane," 
the Sultan's former residence, with whom he used to asso- 
ciate a 2:reat deal. It is now remembered that Abdul 
Hamid never used to treat him with the least reverence; he 
looked upon him as an old buffoon, played all sorts of tricks 
upon him, and even forced him to dress in various absurd and 
ridiculous costumes. 



5o6 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

When the old Sheik-ul-Islam, Hassan, was overthrown, 
Prince Hamid expressed his delight thereat in the most inde- 
corous and joyous manner, and many a time, in speaking to 
his friends of the most high and mighty ecclesiastics of the 
Turkish Church, he used the most vigorous and graphic term 
of abuse in Turkish, namely, the word "pig." 

Abdul Hamid is exceedingly well disposed toward the 
"Giaours" and he professes to have the highest opinion of 
their moral and intellectual capacities. He, however, hates 
all Greeks, and has often been heard to declare that there is 
not one single honest person of that race in all Constanti- 
nople. 

In one word His Majesty, Abdul Hamid, is "an old Turk," 
but not a fanatical old Turk ! 

Within a few weeks of his accession to the throne Abdul 
Hamid began to introduce some very serious economical 
reforms into every department of his household. During 
Abdul Aziz's reign the Court kitchens alone cost a round 
sum of $2,500,000 yearly, which is considerably more than 
the appanage of the whole House of Hohenzollern. 

The Padishah promulgated a decree in September, 1876, 
reducing this abnormal culinary budget to less than half its 
former amount. He also abolished the post of Palace Grand 
Marshal, a highly remunerative sinecure, and resolutely set 
his face against several items of the old-fashioned court 
etiquette, as in his own opinion quite out of keeping with 
modern notions. 

Until he came into power the Grand Vizier and the 
Ministers had to stand while in audience of the Sultan. At 
the first interview granted by Abdul Hamid to these person- 
ages he asked them to sit down and offered them cigarettes. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TURKEY. 5q- 

At first they declined to disport themselves in such a way 
before their Sovereign, but the Padishah insisting on their 
complying with his request, they obeyed and a tiresome for- 
mality of the past thus evaporated in smoke. 

The great favorite of the Sultan is a German, Carl Terssen, 
- who was a common artisan employed before Abdul Hamid's 
accession to the throne in the workshops ef the palace. By 
mere chance the Prince's attention was attracted by some- 
thing the man did, he got into the habit of talking to him 
and soon took so much pleasure in these conversations that 
he made him director of the workshops. 

Since then Carl Terssen, who gradually developed a variety 
of talents, has become quite indispensable to the Sultan who 
has such trust in him that he even departed so far from 
Oriental customs, in his instance, as to allow him to enter 
the apartments of Her Highness, a most unprecedented fact 
in Constantinople. Carl is now the Sultan's factotum. He 
is intrusted by His Majesty with all sorts of commissions 
and he justifies the confidence placed in him in the most 
brilliant manner. 

The Sultan is extremely fond of private theatricals and as- 
pires to renown as a remarkable dramatist. It must not, 
however, be gathered from this that His Ottoman Majesty con- 
descends to put pen to paper or even to dictate the dialogue 
of the piece. He merely contents himself with outlining the 
groundwork of the plot, the drudgery of composing the 
phraseology being regarded as a matter of minor importance, 
and as such intrusted to the secretaries. In this he resem- 
bles the King of Wurtemberg, whose reputation as a great 
musical composer is solely due to his whistling to the chef 
dorchestre the melodies which he desires to be set to music. 



6o8 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



Abdul Hamid for his exclusive amusement and for that of 
his household has an excellent French theatrical company, 
which never perform except at the palace. His Majesty will 
not make any demand for their services for months together, 
and then during several weeks he will insist on their playing 
every night. Occasionally he summons the principal actors 




DINING-ROOM IN THE SULTAN'S PALACE. 



within half an hour of the beginning of the performance and 
furnishes them with a verbal sketch of a comedy which he 
desires them to improvise the same evening. Thus, for in- 
stance, some time ago he assembled the leading actors and 
spoke as follows: 

"I want you to represent the steward of a princely house- 



6lO WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

hold, who Is exceeding-ly excitable and entirely lacking in 
presence of mind. His master must give him a sudden order 
to prepare a banquet for a hundred guests. The poor man 
loses his head and issues the most confused and contradictory 
instructions. The result is that the servants all stumble over I 
one another, spilling the dishes, smashing the china, and 
creating a general pandemonium. At this moment the 
Prince appears upon the scene with his guests, whereupon 
the steward casts himself at his master's feet and implores 
pardon.'' 

The Sultan's directions were carried out to his entire satis- 
faction, and the piece, although improvised, was a wonder- 
ful success. 

The incident which appeared to cause the most enjoyment 
to His Majesty, was when one of the servants in his confusion 
fired off a siphon of seltzer water in the steward's face. This 
had been specially ordered by Abdul Hamid. It should be 
added, that almost every one of these improvised farces is 
destined by the Commander of the Faithful to convey some 
moral to one or the other of the principal members of his 
household. During the first quarter of an hour after the cur- 
tain has risen, universal uneasiness prevails, as nobody is sure 
that he is not going to be made the butt of the evening's 
entertainment. As soon, however, as the aim of the play 
has become apparent, a broad grin appears on every face 
except the one at whose expense the fun has been devised. 
All rejoice at his discomfiture and their own escape and he 
himself, with a sickly smile, strives with all his might and 
main to appear as if he thoroughly enjoyed his Imperial 
master's little joke. 

Constantinople is the place par excellence for mysterious 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TURKEY. 



6ll 



tragedies, and incredible as it may appear at the close of 
this matter of fact nineteenth century, great men of European 
reputation are put out of the world almost every day there 
without attracting any unusual attention. The latest victim 
has been Ali Said Pasha, Minister of War, who the day before 
his death had a long interview with the Sultan, partaking of 
several cups of coffee at the palace. A few hours later he 
was found a corpse at his own house. Some say that it was 
a case of suicide, but the latter is a crime which is absolutely 
repulsive to every true believer in the prophet. 
Others again say that he was a victim of heart disease, while 
the majority allege that his death was due either to a cup of 
coffee or a bowstring. He is but one of a number of promi- 
nent statesmen who have thus come to an untimely end. 

To this day no one knows what has become of Midhat Pasha, 
atone time Prime Minister, and famed throughout Europe as 
the most enliofhtened of Oriental statesmen. The last heard 
of him was that he had died in exile at Mecca. An equal 
mystery surrounds the present condition both of the ex- 
Khedive Ismail of Egypt and the ex-Sultan Murad, the elder 
brother of the present Sultan. The death of both has fre- 
quently been rumored throughout the city, while if they are 
alive their fate is but little better for they are close prisoners 
in the palaces which have been allotted to them. Grave 
doubt exists as to whether Murad has ever been seriously 
insane and it is popularly believed that he was merely 
declared demented and incapable of governing because the 
Sheik Ul Islam, together with the Softas, were convinced that 
he was about to inaugurate all kinds of Western reforms. 
The present Sultan's tenure of the throne depends entirely 
on the mental condition of his predecessor. For if the Sheik 



5l2 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

Ul Islam were to declare to-morrow that Murad had recovered 
his senses, Abdul Hamid's prestige and authority both spirit- 
ual and temporal, would be at an end. Under the circum- 
stances it is scarcely surprising that the Sultan should look 
forward with feelings of relief to the eventuality of Murad's 
death. 

Meanwhile the power of the Sultm hangs by a very slen- 
der thread. A financial crisis, an insurrection of the Chris- 
tian races in Macedonia, Armenia, or Crete, due to the in- 
stigation and backed by one or other of the powers, or 
some serious disturbance in Constantinople would, in the 
present state of affairs suffice to bring on an immediate 
foreign intervention. Public opinion in Europe is outraged 
by the barbarism, the misgovernment, and the chaos which 
prevails in every branch of the administration there. Indeed, 
the condition of affairs is far more serious than that which 
led to the intervention of the great powers in Egypt. 

It is felt throughout the western portion of the Old World 
that the presence of the Turks in Europe is not only an 
anachronism, but also a disgrace to civilization, and that in 
the interests of humanity they should be driven across the 
Hellespont into Asia and the government confided to the 
hands of an international commission. The position of the 
Sultan would become somewhat like that of the Khedive of 
Egypt at the present moment, and there is no doubt that the 
Turkish officers, civil functionaries, and troops, in considera- 
tion of their pay and positions assured, would be willing to 
acquiesce in the change. In other words, the Turkish Em- 
pire would be placed in the hands of trustees, who would 
delegate one of their number to act as guardian in their 
name. 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TURKEY. 



613 



Emperor William is determined that this guardian shall be 
Germany, as being the only one of the great powers which is 
not territorially interested in the dismemberment of the 
" Sick Man." Moreover, Germany is the foreign nation 
which is regarded with most sympathy by the Mussulmans as 
being the only one of the great powers that until now has 
refrained from shedding Mohammedan blood, England, Aus- 
tria, France, Italy and Russia having all been singularly un- 
fortunate in this respect. This project of a German adminis- 
tration of Turkey has long since been openly discussed in 
diplomatic Government circles in Europe, and the authorities 
of Berlin have of late years made all available preparations 
for assuming control of the Government, if possible. Every 
office and department in Constantinople swarms with German 
officials, who, having been carefully selected, invariably end 
by exercising a remarkable and predominating influence upon 
their native colleaenes. The chancres in the administration 
of the Tobacco Department, of the public debt, and in the 
Treasury have been made in such a manner as to place the 
entire control of the departments in question in Teutonic 
hands. 

Germans, too, control the army, the civil service, and even 
the Sultan's household. Thus, the French chief coachman 
who has driven Abdul Hamid for the past eight years has 
been superseded by a German. A Prussian has likewise 
supplanted the Imperial house-steward, a Frenchman, 
who was for ten years chief butler of Napoleon III. at 
the Tuilleries. Thf^. four principal officers of the Turkish 
army, one of whom is a field marshal and the other three, 
generals, have been placed on the retired list, and Teutons 
appointed in their place. The Light-House Department has 



6i4 Within kovAL palaces. 

been placed under the control of Germans, the Emperor 
William's astute ambassador, Baron von Radowitz, has even 
been clever enough to prevail upon Abdul Hamid to ex- 
change his French "artiste de la bouche " (or artist of the 
mouth) for a common German cook. Indeed, when the day 
comes — and it is not far off — for the great powers to devise 
a scheme for administering the Ottoman Government, the 
Germans will be found in possession and control of every 
department of the Executive, and possession, according to 
the old adage, is nine-tenths of the law. 

A most amusing incident, thoroughly characteristic of the 
happy-go-lucky methods of the Turkish authorities took 
place last year in connection with the famous brigand chief 
Mehemet Pelivan. The latter for many years past created a 
reign of terror in certain portions of Asia Minor. A large 
reward had been offered for his apprehension, notwithstand- 
ing which he still continued at large. It is true that he was 
once captured in the outskirts of Constantinople and con- 
demned to fifteen years' incarceration. He received his 
sentence with equanimity, merely uttering a sonorous "kis- 
met," and, after a short delay, proceeded under heavy escort 
through the crowded thoroughfares from the Court House to 
the prison. Suddenly he espied at one of the corners lead- 
ing into a comparatively deserted side street a carriage and 
pair. In its occupant he recognized the judge who had just 
pronounced sentence on him. Quick as lightning he tripped 
up two of his guards; bounded on to the box of the carriage, 
hurled the coachman from his seat to the ground, and, lash- 
ing the horses into almost racing speed, disappeared in an 
instant with both the carriage and the judge before either the 
gendarmes or the public had recovered from their astonish- 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF TURKEY. 615 

ment and consternation. A quarter of an hour later the 
carriage was found standing- empty before a mosque in the 
suburbs, but of the prisoner or of the judge no trace was to 
be seen. Six weeks later Col. Nouri Bey, the officer who 
had arrested him in the first place, was found dead one morn- 
ing with his throat cut, in the main street of Khartal, a village 
about two hours' ride from Constantinople. It was an act of 
venoreance of Pelivan. 

A few weeks after this a telegram was received from the 
Governor of the province of Konia in Asia Minor, stating that 
he had been fortunate enough to succeed in effecting the cap- 
ture of Pelivan, and that he had taken effective measures to 
prevent his escape by manacling him with heavy chains, to the 
floor of his prison. The Sultan was at once informed of the 
event, and gave orders that the famous brigand should be 
conveyed to Constantinople under strong escort. Burdened 
with heavy chains around his neck, his wrists, his ankles, and 
his waist, the prisoner was marched on foot from the town of 
Svarta in Konia to Smyrna. The journey occupied a fort- 
night, and in each village and town the inhabitants turned out 
en masse to jeer at the captive, and to pelt him with rotten 
eggs, dead animals, and offal. From Smyrna he was trans- 
ported in a special steamer straight to the Vildiz Kiosk at 
Constantinople, as the Sultan desired not only to see the 
famous brigand with his own eyes but also to be present at the 
preliminary inquiry. 

When the latter commenced, the prisoner, who was com- 
pletely prostrated by the cruel treatment to which he had 
been subjected, denied in the most emphatic manner his 
identity with the robber chief. He admitted that his name 
was Mehemet Pelivan, a pensioned soldier of the army, who 



^l6 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

was living quietly and honestly with his old parents at Svarta 
at, the moment of his arrest. Struck by the truthful tone of 
the man's assertions, the Sultan summoned into his presence 
the officials of the court by which the real Pelivan had been 
sentenced eighteen months previously. On being confronted 
with the prisoner they at once unhesitatingly declared that he 
bore no trace of resemblance to the robber chief. Convinced 
of the man's innocence, the Sultan set to work to compensate 
him as far as possible for the hardships to which he had been 
subjected and issued the following orders under his own 
private seal: (i) That the town of Svarta should be forced 
to pay an annual pension of 1,000 piasters for the remainder 
of his days to Pelivan; (2) that he should be conveyed as a 
first-class passenger by steamer to Smyrna, and thence to his 
native town by carriage at the expense of the province of 
Konia ; (3) that he should receive a gratuity of fifty Turkish 
pounds ($250) from the Imperial privy exchequer; and (4) 
that the Governor-General of Konia should be dismissed in 
disgrace and declared incapable of ever holding office again. 
Meanwhile the robber Pelivan still remained at large and no 
trace was to be found of the Judge whom he kidnapped in 
such a daring manner. 



il 



THE ROYAL FAMILY 

OF 

SERVIA. 

A MORE wretched and melancholy existence than that of 
poor young King Alexander of Servia, is difficult to 
imagine. Alone and abandoned, forsaken by all, the weight of 
his sovereignty lies too heavily on his youthful shoulders. 
Several attempts have already been made to assassinate him, 
and his poor little life ever since he ascended the throne, 
abandoned by his cowardly father. King Milan, has been a 
series of sorrows and sufferings to him. 

Can any one imagine anything more distressing than this 
absolute loneliness in the grandeur and luxury of a Royal 
Palace for a boy who ought to be tasting of nothing but the 
sweetness of life. Far from his mother, who although a dis- 
solute woman, yet loved him tenderly, overshadowed by the 
evil repute of his father, who certainly is one of the most con- 
temptible scoundrels in existence, the unfortunate child has 
nothing or nobody to turn to, and a friend of mine who has 
been spending some time lately at Belgrade, wrote to me a 
short time ago, that in unguarded moments there is in the 
handsome face of the King an expression of wretchedness 
pitiable to behold. An old prophecy exists in Servia, accord- 
ing to which the eighth annointed King of Servia is destined 
to reign but for a brief period. It is for this reason that Milan 
would never permit himself to be annointed. His son, how- 
ever, has been annointed, and is the eighth King of Servia 

who has undergone the function. 

^ (617) 



6iS 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



The King who has no one of his family to watch over him, 
is exposed to all the enterprises of the pretender, Prince Peter 
Karageorgevitch. The father of this Prince was convicted 
before a Hungarian Court of Justice of having been accessory 
to the assassination of Prince Michael, the uncle of King 
Milan. In these 
Eastern Euro- 
pean States po- 
litical struggles 
are fierce, and 
human lives are 
not highly rated. 
In the case of 
King Alexander, 
who apparently 
remains the last 
descendant o f 
the Obrenovitch 
dynasty, the one 
security against 
murder or kid- 
napping would 
be that an heir 
should be in ex- 
istence, in order 
that the boy's re- 
moval should 

entail no political consequences. At the present moment 
there is no heir apparent to the crown. For Milan abandoned 
his right to resume possession of the throne should his boy 
die unmarried, when he surrenders his Servian citizenship. 




THE KING OP SEKVIA. 



41 



tttE ROVAL family of SERViA. ^jq 

Prince Karageorgevitch, the pretender was educated at the 
Military College of St. Cyr, in France. He served as captain 
in the French army during the Franco-German war, and in 
1863 contracted a marriage with the eldest daughter of the 
Prince of Montenegro. He is wealthy and unscrupulous, but 
differs from Milan in possessing great personal courage. 

The ceremony 
of King Alex- 
ander's annoint- 
ment did not at- 
tract many peo- 
ple at Zitcha. 
The old church 
which St. Sava 
built stands on a 
hill at twenty 
minutes' drive 
from Kraljevo, 
and the crowd 
on the hill sides 
was never large 
enough to pre- 
vent free circula- 
tion. There was 
plenty of room 
in the church, 
too, for all who had permission to enter. By covering in the 
ruined portion of the church a nave of some sze was con- 
trived. The mediaval frescoes are, unfortunately, past re- 
pairing, for the Turks wreaked their fury upon them (in the 
present century) by scratching out all the eyes of the giants 




EX-KIKG MILAN. 



520 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

and kings portrayed, and since then the peasantry have scaled 
off large patches from the pictures to be kept as relics. 

At one time every inch of the halls must have been covered 
with paintings, and very clever were some of the Macedonian 
artists who are believed to have executed these frescoes. The 
tradition that three doors were added to the original four in 
the church because seven kings were crowned there rests on 
nothing certain ; but it is a fact that the peasantry have cher- 
ished many superstitions about the seven kings, and have 
always thought that the eighth King annointed at Zitcha would 
do wonders for Servia. A man named Marta, who lived at 
Oubritza not many years ago, and who was believed to have 
the gift of second sight, because he made some extraordinarily 
accurate guesses at contemporary events, was once summoned 
into King Milan's presence, and was requested to prophesy 
about the eighth annointed king. He said that this king 
would not reign long and would be succeeded by another, 
whose rule would be so full of persecutions that persons pass- 
ing by the graveyard would say to the dead, " Would that we 
had died with you ! " But after this was to arise another ruler, 
a feir haired man, whose reign would be so beneficient that 
people passing by the graveyards would say to the dead, 
*' Would that you had lived to be with us now ! " 

The prediction is noted here because of the impression it is 
Slid to have made on King Milan. King Milan himself was 
never annointed or crowned, and it was by his express wish 
that his son was annointed in this year, the 500th anniversary 
of Kossovo. No wonder that the sacredness of the rite and 
the peculiar circumstances attending it should have deeply 
moved the Royal Boy. He bore up manfully through the 
first part of the ceremony, but after the general homage, when 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SERVIA. 



621 



his father's telegram was put into his hands, he changed color 
and looked so faint that the Regent Protitch led him out of 
the church. He remained absent three-quarters of an hour, 
returning later to take the Holy Communion fasting, as the 
laws of the church require. It was then eleven o'clock, and 
he had not eaten since the previous day. Let us hope King 
Alexander will grow up to be a strong, well-taught, clear- 
headed man ; so he 
will make a eood 
ruler. But it is im- 
possible on the sub- 
ject to refrain from 
expressing some mis- 
givings. The boy's 
father has left him, 
and his mother is 
not allowed to live 
with him ; it is even 
said that some of 
the men who have 
political interest in 
keeping Queen Na- 
talie out of the coun- 
try have been work- 

EX-QUEEN NATALIE. lUg UpOU the yOUUg 

King's vanity to persuade him that he does not need to be 
"tied to a mother's apron-strings." They have said to him, 
"You are a King and don't require to be governed by a 
mother;" to which the boy has been heard to answer, "Oh, 
yes, I am a King now and can take care of myself" King 
Alexander is precociously developed. It seems but a short 




622 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



while ago that he was being photographed in sailor dress and 
knickerbockers ; but now, in his colonel's uniform he stands as 
tall as the three Regents, and has acquired a good deal 
of self possession. He has bright features, but not an intel- 
lectual face. His forehead is low, and little of it would be 
seen if he did not wear his hair close cropped. He has 
large, soft eyes, and a quick pleasing smile ; but a physiogno- 
mist would say that the mouth and nose showed indecision of 
character. The boy looks as though he could easily be led, 
and most easily by those who would let him have his own way 
a great deal. His tutor is Dr. Dogitch, a medical man who has 
for some time been his body physician, and for whom he feels 
an affection. Dr. Dogitch has a kind face and pleasant manners, 
but has not much firmness, and certainly looks as though the 
task of educating a King were one which he could only dis- 
charge by constantly humoring his pupil. One must remem- 
ber in this connection what a miserable training King Milan 
received. A minister once respectfully remonstrated with him 
for some piece of duplicity, upon which the King answered, 
" Well, gentlemen, I am what you have made me ; if you 
wanted a higher morality in your King you should have brought 
me up otherwise." 

Servians remember that it was M. Ristich who was respon- 
sible for at least the political part of King Milan's education, 
and they are naturally asking whether he will profit by the 
unique hazard which has made him Regent for a second time, 
and do better for the son than he did for the father. I believe 
sincerely that great wrong was done to the boy King by leav- 
ing him without the moral training which only a mother can 
give. "In Servia" it is particularly necessary that the King 
should set a pattern of manners and morals, for the Servians 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SERVIA. ggl 

are only just emerging from Orientalism, and the vices of the 
East will cling to the nation so long as they are seen in its 
ruler. How can one help feeling anxious about the young 
King? Tenderness, purity, respect for women, and religious- 
ness of the heart — these are no things which tutors teach ; 
they come from a mother's precept and example ; they are the 
lessons which she instills when she stands beside her boy's cot, 
and hears him say his prayers. The great misfortune of Kmg 
Milan's life was that he has been educated by men — politicians 
too — and has received no moral training. He was clever, well 
read, and in the main kind-hearted ; but his character was 
warped by scepticism, and as he had no belief in the honesty 
of m.en, so had he no scruples in dealing with them. 

Of Orientalism there are traces enough in Servia — much 
more than in Bulgaria, where the people, although more 
recently emancipated, have shown a much greater aptitude for 
self-government and a much more decided taste for civlllza" 
tion. There cannot be a fairer tract of country on earth than 
that through which one passes in a six hours drive from Krus- 
chevatz to Kraljevo; and yet the prospect soon ceases to 
please, because one sees no gladdening signs of man's 
industry. One cannot tell at first what one misses in the 
lovely landscape of hills, forests, green fields, and winding 
rivers, but presently the fact flashes upon one's mind that there 
are no flowers, no fruit, no orchards, and that all the habita- 
tions of man are vile. The peasant, with a ten-acre holding, 
lives in a hovel, and does nothing to beautify his surroundings. 
He might have a clean, pleasant homestead, a garden full of 
roses, and an orchard rich with fruit trees ; but he is too indo- 
lent and barbarous to care for these things, so it comes to pass 
that every cottage and hamlet irritates one with a show oi 



624 



WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 



needless squalor. The same must be said of the towns, which 
are horribly paved, unlighted, and altogether unworthy of a 
people who have enjoyed independence for more than half a 
century, and have been ruled during that time by men profess- 
ing to have notions of western culture. Things are very dif- 
ferent in Bulgaria, and anybody who has had an opportunity 
of comparing the two countries will agree that while the Bul- 
garians are an interesting people, and establish a strong claim 
to the good will of all who know them, the Servians are not an 
interesting people at all. Sofia in ten years has made more 
progress than Belgrade in sixty. The Servian has land in 
plenty, and is too idle to turn it to account. His rulers are 
politicians whom ignoble party quarrels have rendered silly 
and who devote such energies as they have to electioneering. 
The married life of Xing Milan and his lovely consort would 
perchance not have been so unexemplary had it not been for the 
numerous intrigues which flourished at the Court of Belgrade- 
Queen Natalie herself attributed much of her husband's 
conduct to the influence of her bitter enemy, the Count de 
Bray-Steinburg, who for many years held the post of German 
Minister to the Court of Belgrade. A Bavarian by birth, the 
Count caused himself to be naturalized a Prussian within a few 
weeks after the defeat of the South German armies, by Empe- 
ror William's victorious trojps. For this act of desertion he 
was rewarded by Prince Bismarck with the post of Secretary 
of the Prussian legation at Constantinople. It was while there 
that the Count and his wife became the heroes of an adven- 
ture which to this day provokes laughter and ridicule whenever 
their names are mentioned in any of the Chancelleries of the 
European capitals, 



THE ROYAL FAMILY OF SERVIA. ^2 r 

One eveninor the Count and Countess were returnin«- from 
a tete-a-tete excursion to the beautiful woods on the Asiatic 
shores opposite Constantinople when they were suddenly 
assailed by a band of twenty-eight brigands. The latter, after 
forcing them to surrender all their valuables, were cruel enough 
to tie their captives to separate trees and, after stripping them 
of their clothing, to submit both husband and wife to nameless 
outrages. It was only on the following morning that some 
travelers on their way from Scutari to Stamboul discovered 
the Count and Countess more dead than alive still tied to the 
trees. Of course it was universally expected when the adven- 
ture became known that the ill-treated couple would leave 
Constantinople at once and hide their indignities elsewhere. 

Far from this being the case, they made no attempt to get 
transferred to any other post, and rather seemed to enjoy the 
notoriety to which the adventure had given rise. Like true, 
practical Germans, they determined to make the most of the 
incident, and caused the Prussian Ambassador to demand for 
them from the Porte an indemnity of $60,000 for the mal- 
treatment to which they had been subjected. After a good 
deal of negotiation as to the monetary value of the damage 
inflicted the Sultan at length reluctantly gave orders for the 
payment of the sum demanded, exclaiming plaintively as he 
did so : " By allah : que cest cher pour deux Prussieiis endom- 
mager (By allah! how expensive two damaged Prussians 
are 1 ) 

Of course Queen Natalie, who is a Parisiene to the very 
tips of her fingers, and who has a keen sense of ridicule, was 
never tired of making the fat Countess and the Count the butt 
of her best witticisms. It is needless to add that, in such a 
small and scandal-loving community as Belgrade, neither the 
40 



526 WITHIN ROYAL PALACES. 

German Minister nor his wife were allowed to remain in ignor 
ance of Queen Natalie's remarks about them, and it was not 
surprising that they resented it in their bitterest manner and 
conceived the most violent hatred for her somewhat sarcastic 
Majesty. 

For years their entire efforts were devoted to representing 
the Queen at Berlin as being imbued with the most hostile 
feelings toward Germany, and no opportunity was lost of 
poisoning the Xing's mind against her. It is well known at 
Belgrade that Milan's conduct in forcibly removing the little 
Crown Prince from the Queen's custody was due to the sole 
instigation of the Count and Countess de Bray-Steinburg, and 
that it was strongly opposed by the Austrian Envoy at the 
time, Baron Von Hengel Mueller, 



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